Fuck it. With a President Trump we're all doomed anyway.

FLACS are BACK!

I agree

No.501
Modern: Tonal

Two major works from Sir James Macmillan make their CD debut! The Violin Concerto is
performed on this disc by its dedicatee Vadim Repin. Reviewing the world premiere,
David Nice of The Arts Desk lauded, "As soloist Vadim Repin and conductor Valery Gergiev
whirled us tumultuously through its hyperactive songs and dances, there was so much I wanted
to savour, to hear again. That won't be a problem. So long as there are violinists of Repin's
calibre able to play it, the work is here to stay."

The 4th Symphony is dedicated to Donald Runnicles and was written to celebrate his
60th birthday. Sir James MacMillan is one of today�s most successful composers. His musical
language is flooded with influences from his Scottish heritage, Catholic faith, social conscience
and close connection with Celtic folk music, blended with influences from Far Eastern,
Scandinavian and Eastern European music. The 4th Symphony recording is from the 2015
BBC Proms and was the world premiere performance "Densely, at times exotically scored, it
was grandly played. Runnicles conducted it with great affection and dignity" (Tim Ashley,
The Guardian).



Music Composed by James MacMillan
Played by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
With Vadim Repin (violin)
Conducted by Donald Runnicles

"Repin has made this concerto his own on the live circuit, and here turns in
another virtuosic performance with Donald Runnicles and the BBC SSO, also on
top form. In his Symphony No 4, MacMillan claims to present a more abstract
musical statement. Yet I find it impossible not to feel embraced by its strength
of personality and expression, much of it arising from the ghostly references
to Robert Carver�s music."
The Scotsman



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NOTE: A word of warning though. The next time I see one of my post-11/9 releases
(The Age of Trump) on that blog, then I'll be gone for good!

Thank you for continuing this. Much great art is produced during times of incomprehension and despair and, for many, engaging with great art is the only way they know how to process it.

MacMillan is an outstanding composer, there are some fine works in his output. Thanks a billion for this new recording.

No.502
Late Romantic

Super-virtuoso Marc-Andr� Hamelin plays two of the lushest products of late Romanticism. The Joseph Marx Piano Concerto,
("Romantic") long awaited by pianophiles the world over, is a first recording. Written in the 1930s, it is perhaps closest in style to Richard Strauss with its
gushing melodies and rich orchestration. Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Piano Concerto "for the Left Hand" was written (like that of Ravel)
for Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein who had lost his right arm during the First World War. It is Korngold at his most experimental and features
a very large and colourful orchestra, and a particularly demanding (and somewhat awkward) piano part.



Music by Joseph Marx & Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Played by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
With Marc-Andr� Hamelin (piano)
Conducted by Osmo V�nsk�

"Lush as lush can be � that�s the Joseph Marx Romantisches Klavierkonzert. It�s all the most wildly romantic concertos you can
think of rolled into one huge pianistic feast. Without sounding too much like the wine expert Jilly Goolden, it�s early Scriabin, it�s
Korngold (particularly in the ravishing slow movement), it�s Debussy (I�m thinking of the Fantasie for piano and orchestra here),
it�s Delius, it could even at times be the grandaddy of all those 1930s and 1940s quasi-piano concerto film scores. From the very
first bar you know why Joseph Marx (1882-1964) gave the concerto the epithet Romantic.

Though by no means a profound piece, it�s a delight to listen to and a work of exceptional craftsmanship also. Its pianistic difficulties
are legion and this could well be the reason for the work�s neglect since the 1920s. Jorge Bolet had it in his repertoire but this is
the first commercial recording of the piece. As ever Marc-Andre Hamelin delivers the music with consummate ease.

After a similar period of neglect Korngold�s left-hand Piano Concerto is making a remarkable comeback on disc. Unlike many of
the pieces composed for Paul Wittgenstein after he lost an arm in the First World War, this one actually makes a virtue out of all
the inevitable spread-chords trickery required when writing for one hand. Listening to the Concerto afresh it struck me how
incredibly difficult it would be to play it with both hands and still make it sound the way the composer intended � perhaps this
was why Wittgenstein enjoyed playing it so much. Whatever, it�s a splendid work that thoroughly deserves its current revival.
Its gladiatorial solo part certainly emphasizes the �struggle� inherent in the concerto form, but it is certainly not a concerto in the
traditional sense, more, as Brendan Carroll suggests in the booklet-notes, a symphonic poem for piano and orchestra.

Hamelin�s main rival here is a fine account by Howard Shelley and Matthias Bamert on Chandos. Shelley�s approach is, overall,
more luxuriant perhaps, but Hamelin�s reading has plenty of poetry as well and is allied to tremendous power and authority.
I�m sure I will vacillate between these two performances, but for now Hamelin just gets my recommendation. Korngold fans
will want both, and of course there�s the marvellous Marx Concerto to get acquainted with. An inspired coupling. Good recorded
sound, and superb accompaniment from the BBC Scottish SO under Osmo Vanska."
Gramophone





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No.503
Modern: Neo-Classical

�I found that the form of the Concerto did better correspond to my spiritual position.
The Symphony, in fact, with its large employment of orchestral means, seems to be the
best form to express general, collective feelings; but, honestly, I do not think I am
very inclined to these; quite the contrary, I am a hardened individualist (I can�t tell
whether this is a good or a bad thing). Therefore a solo instrument, or an instrument
associated with the orchestra, better suits my personality; because in the relation
between the soloist and the instrumental mass I can find the exact equivalent of the
human individual condition, sometimes in keeping, sometimes in contrast with
the world around him.�
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco



Music Composed by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Played by the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese
With Massimo Felici (guitar) & Lorenzo Micheli (guitar)
Conducted by Michael Summers

"Hailed by the musical critics as �virtuoso extraordinaire� (Nice Matin), �absolutely astonishing� (Fort Worth Star-Telegram),
�prodigious talent� (Soundboard), Lorenzo Micheli burst onto the international guitar scene in 1999 when he won the Guitar
Foundation of America�s annual competition in Charleston, South Carolina. Since then, Micheli has maintained an active touring
and teaching schedule that have brought him all over North America, Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Prior to the GFA win,
he also captured first prize at competitions such as Gargnano (1996), Alessandria (1997) and ARAM (Rome, 1999). He has
given master classes throughout North America, South America and Europe and is currently on faculty at the Conservatory
of Aosta in the Italian Alps region. As SoloDuo, Lorenzo Micheli has formed with Matteo Mela a critically acclaimed guitar duo
that has been welcomed by The Washington Post as �extraordinarily sensitive, with effortless command and an almost unbearable
delicacy of touch: nothing less than rapturous - profound and unforgettable musicianship of the highest order�.

Having studied with Paola Coppi, Fr�d�ric Zigante, and Oscar Ghiglia, Micheli is a graduate of both the Conservatory of Trieste
and the Musik-Akademie of Basel, Switzerland. Lorenzo has recorded numerous works of the guitar repertoire, including the
music of Dionisio Aguado (Stradivarius), a selection of guitar works by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (Naxos), the Three
Quartets, op. 19, by Fran�ois de Fossa (Stradivarius), the complete works for solo guitar by Miguel Llobet (Naxos), the
complete guitar Concertos by Castelnuovo-Tedesco (Brilliant), a CD of Italian Music from the 17th Century for theorbo,
baroque guitar, and archlute (Stradivarius), a double CD of chamber music by Mauro Giuliani (Amadeus), a couple of
live DVD�s (Mel Bay), �Solaria�, an anthology of 20th Century masterworks for two guitars (Pomegranate Music), and
Antoine de Lhoyer�s works for two guitars (Naxos)."





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No.504
Modern: Tonal

Roy Harris became a renowned composer on the American scene in the 1940s, owing to the immense popularity
of his Third Symphony (1937-39). His mature compositions incorporated folk music or folk-inspired elements with fresh
harmonies, often in orchestration that favored wind instruments, fashioning a style that could embrace a mixture of savagery,
lyricism, celebration, tenderness, and rural Americana. His choral music divulged characteristics of both chant and the hymn and
folk styles of his rural background. Harris was born in Lincoln County, Oklahoma. After the family moved to the San Gabriel
Valley when Roy was about five, he began showing talent on the piano. He quickly developed his keyboard talents and even
learned to play the clarinet in high school. By the time he was 18, his skills on the piano and clarinet were quite advanced,
but he had not yet written any music. In 1919, he enrolled in the University of California at Berkelely to study sociology,
philosophy, history, and economics. He began studying composition in his college years, first with Charles Demarest and
Ernest Douglas, organists both, and in 1924 with Arthur Farwell. At the behest of Aaron Copland, Harris departed for
France in 1926 to study with Nadia Boulanger. While there, he wrote the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra.



Music Composed by Roy Harris
Played by the International String Congress Orchestra & Portland Junior Symphony
And the UCLA Wind & Brass Ensembles
With Johana Harris (piano)
Conducted by Roy Harris, Jacob Avshalomov & James Westbrook

"Harris is not far from all that (especially in the Dance part from the 1958 "Elegy and Dance") but there is something
different at play too, which I find winning: an irresistible heroic sweep which I somehow do not find bombastic, a way
to develop crescendos over sometimes very long spans (the Chorale for organ and brass takes 9 minutes) to exhilarating
climaxes of intensity. I am not a musicologist, but it seems to me that Harris' orchestral procedures are original and
remarkable, in that he often writes monophonic lines for the strings, which may overlap but not in a chordal way, and
which are played with heart-rending intensity. More still than of Bach's counterpoint, it is reminiscent of Renaissance
choral music. There are also deep baritonal long-lined melodies (usually for strings but also for woodwinds in "Cimarron"
for Wind Ensemble) pitted against powerful brass riffs that never fail to release the adrenalin. Even Harris' personal brand
of brooding pastoralism, as in the Chorale referred to above, I find very moving, maybe because the main melodic line
is attributed to trumpet rather than the customary and clich�d flute and/or oboe over carpet of strings. The effects
may be simple but I find them immensely effective - and in that respect Harris reminds of Shostakovich, even if these
two composers' voices are very different.

The Concerto for Piano and Strings is the expansion to string orchestra, made in 1959-60, of Harris' early
Piano Quintet (1937): long polyphonic string lines, first meditative and lyrical and increasingly intense, against piano
figurations following the same arch, from brooding to busily agitated - in its own way, I find it as personal and
intense as Britten's Concertos, and this is no small praise in my personal pantheon. Elegy and Dance was written for
the Portland Junior Symphony and its first title was "Reverie and Dance". "Cimarron-Overture" from 1941 is Harris'
first work for Wind Band. "Toccata", "Chorale" and "Fantasy" are actually three different pieces for Organ, Brass and
Timpani, written respectively in 1944, 1943 (for E. Power Biggs) and 1964. They are substantial, lasting in all 25
minutes, and, for the reasons I tried to express above, elating."
Amazon reviewer



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No.505
Modern: Neo-Romantic

Ant�n Garcia Abril's Piano Concerto, a work dating from 1966, underwent ample revision and restructuring
in the 1994 version premiered by Guil1ermo Gonzalez at that year's Granada Festival. The original,
now withdrawn from circulation, was Garcia Abril's first experience in the world of the concertante,
a world to which he has since successful1y returned on several occasions. The composer, a pianist
himself with major piano solos to his credit before and after the Concerto, decided to pour into
this latter work al1 the experience of a career spanning close on thirty years.

Alhambra is a symphonic poems that colorfully depicts the famous castle in the Granada region of Spain.



Music Composed by Ant�n Garcia Abril
Played by the Orquesta Sinf�nica de la R�gion de Murcia
With Daniel Ligorio (piano)
Conducted by Jos� Miguel Rodilla

"Ant�n Garc�a Abril was born in Teruel on 19 May in 1933. Between 1952 and 1955, he studied at the Madrid Royal
Conservatory of Music under Julio Gmez and Francisco Cales, and at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena under Vito Frazzi
(composition), Paul van Kempen (orchestral conducting) and Angelo Francesco Lavagnino (film music). In 1964, he
furthered his studies at the Santa Cecilia National Academy in Rome under Goffredo Petrassi, on a scholarship from the
Juan March Foundation in Madrid. In the following year he won the Tormo de Plata Prize on the occasion of the IV Cuenca
religious Music Week for Cantico delle creature. With Luis de Pablo and Cristbal Halffter, he also represented Spain at the
39th International Festival held by the International Contemporary Music Society (SIMC) in Madrid. He became lecturer
in Musical Composition and Form at the Madrid Royal Conservatory Music in 1974. Five years later his Hispavox recording
of Concierto aguediano granted him the Ministry of Culture Prize and in 1981 the Ministry of Cultures Andr�s Segovia
Composition Prize for Evocaciones and Cross of San Jorge (St. George) awarded by the Teruel Provincial Authority.

In 1982 he became an elected member of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid and in 1985 he took
the Tom�s Bret�n medal from the Association of Spanish Authors and Artists. Following an international symposium held
to discuss the figure of Valle-Incl�n in 1986, Abril was commissioned by the National Institute of Dramatic Arts and Music (INAEM)
to write an opera based on Divinas palabras, to be pr�miered at the Teatro Real in Madrid after completion of its reconversion
into an opera house. Between 1988 and 1989, he participated in the International Contemporary Music Festival, Festival of
Peace, held in Leningrad, the Ministry of Culture Board of Cultural Affairs and in the Hispano-Soviet Festival held in Georgia.
In 1993 he was awarded the Aragon Regional Authority Medal for Cultural Merit, the National Music Prize and the Guerrero
Foundation Spanish Music Prize. "



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No.506
Modern: Tonal

An American born B.C. - which in the present context means "before Copland" - had a hard time of it if he wanted to become a
composer. The job, rather like that of an actress in the 18th century, was not considered quite proper for a gentleman. By virtue alike
of his talent and international recognition, of his character, and of his dedication to the support and encouragement of his colleagues,
Aaron Copland changed all that in the public mind, and already by the time Elie Siegmeister, Norman Dello Joio, and Jacob Avshalomov
came on the scene, composing was beginning to be seen as a perfectly feasible and respectable, if not necessarily lucrative, profession.
Thus it was that even a musician who came to be as widely admired as Frederick Converse, after graduating in 1893 from Harvard
College with high honors in music, tried for some months to be a businessman, in accordance with his father's wishes, before an irresistible
inner need compelled him to turn to music; and Bernard Tuthill pursued a similar course for much longer, despite having a father, W.B. Tuthill,
who was the architect of Carnegie Hall, and a mother, Henrietta Corwin Tuthill, who was a professional organist. It is a real treat to have
the fine American conductor, JoAnn Falletta conducting the equally fine American clarinetist Robert Alemany and the
Czech National Symphony in these wonderful performances.



Music by [see above]
Played by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra
With Robert Alemany (clarinet)
Conducted by JoAnn Falletta

"...with the soloist's remarkable virtuosity and energetic support from Falletta and the Czech musicians,
this disc is worth investigating by all those curious about the byways of American music."
Grnmophone


Elie Siegmeister.

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No.507
Modern: Tonal

Revered as one of Hollywood�s leading film composers, Franz Waxman was also a conductor and
impresario. He founded the Los Angeles Festival Orchestra, and he gave many premi�re performances
on the West Coast. His own Sinfonietta for String Orchestra and Timpani was written on board a ship
whilst en route from New York to Europe in 1955. Full of exciting contrast, it has recently been revived as
a ballet score. Waxman premi�red the revised version of Lukas Foss�s Piano Concerto No 2 in 1953.
The multi-talented Foss, who plays the piano part, crafted a work accommodating the past and the present.
Arthur Rubinstein championed it, calling it �one of the finest pieces written in our time�.



Music by Franz Waxman & Lukas Foss
Played by the Los Angeles Festival Orchestra
With Lukas Foss (piano)
Conducted by Franz Waxman





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No.508
Modern: Tonal

Eduardo Angulo, born in 1954 in Puebla, Mexico, began his musical studies, aged seven, at the National Music Conservatory, Mexico
City where, under the direction of Vladimir Vulfman, he began his training as a violinist. As a young man he featured in chamber music
concerts at Carnegie Hall, New York and performed in the World Youth Symphony Orchestra. In 1973, after graduating with high honours
from the Mexico City Conservatory, he was awarded a scholarship by the Dutch government to study at the Royal Conservatory of
The Hague where, two years later, he was awarded the Prize for Excellence. He stayed on for a further year giving recitals with his string
quartet throughout Holland and Germany. On his return to Mexico, Eduardo Angulo dedicated himself to composition, writing symphonic
works, chamber and choral music, and concertos for a wide variety of instruments including violin, harp, viola, guitar, harpsichord and flute.
His music, mainly written for individual musicians and chamber groups, has been performed in the United States, Europe, and Central and
South America, often with the composer in the role of soloist in his own concertos.



Music by Eduardo Angulo, Joaqu�n Rodrigo & Heitor Villla-Lobos
Played by the Bournemouth Sinfonietta
With Rafael Jim�nez (guitar)
Conducted by Terence Frazor

"The first movement of Angulo�s concerto is cheerful and airy-adjectives that could just as easily be applied to 1 of
the Aranjuez. But while Rodrigo�s beloved work is infused with a wholly Spanish spirit, Angulo�s work is more stylistically
diffuse, with some subtle exotic effects and even hints of jazz. Angulo, who has composed several works for guitar, writes
in a rhythmically exuberant, melodically driven tonal language. Moments of chromaticism are few and they do little to disrupt
the sense of tonal security. The work darkens somewhat with the serene Andante but quickly brightens again with the lively
Allegro Vivace� There are some really beautiful tunes in the first two movements, and 111 has a few nice dramatic twists.
But isolated moments notwithstanding, this piece needs more drama. On the whole it is very pleasant, but something so
consistently tranquil and untroubled does not make for a very vivid musical experience.

Jimenez, Frazor, and the Bournemouth Sinfonietta deliver musically satisfying performances of all three works, and the
recording accurately captures the balance of soloist and orchestra. Jimenez�s playing is most secure and effective in the
Villa-Lobos-he shapes its idiomatic lines expertly and with passion. The whole piece is very nicely etched by both Jimenez
and Frazor, who manages to coax some sounds out of the orchestra that rarely emerge from the texture in other readings
(the bassoons in 1, for example). In alt three concertos, however, Jimenez�s playing is marred by occasional technical slips,
buzzes, and an inconsistent tone. Editing out such glitches is more difficult in a concerto recording than a solo one, but
still� I hate to point out such trivial issues as technical slips and buzzes in a recording; such things have little to do with
an artistic product. But there is a level of accuracy expected in a recording these days as a result of modern editing t
echnology. This expectation isn�t realistic-it isn�t the way music actually goes in performance-and it can cause rnusically
inhibited interpretations. But listeners don�t expect mistakes and slips on a recording these days, and artists should
not be surprised when obvious unedited blemishes attract attention."
Classical Music Review



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No.509
Modern: Tonal

It is our contention that George Lloyd put some of his most imaginative and unusual music into
his chamber music and concertos. The symphonies and choral works are big, romantic, immediately appealing.
The concertos and chamber music are like - well, the two works contained on this disc. As a young man,
Lloyd studied violin with the great English violinist Albert Sammons. Writing for the violin came naturally
to him. These two concertos are unusual in that Violin Concerto No. 1 is written for violin and wind
strings and Violin Concerto No. 2 is written for violin and winds only. These two works were recorded during the
week before George Lloyd died on July 3, 1998. In fact, he was supposed to conduct these performances, but
David Parry stepped in at the last minute and with the wonderful Rumanian violinist Cristina Anghelescu
and members of the Philharmonia Orchestra to complete the project. The recording was made in Henry Wood Hall.
George was even too ill to attend the sessions, but he was making suggestions as to the best placement of the
players to achieve just the recorded sound he wanted 48 hours before his death. This beautiful recording is a
fine and lasting memorial to this composer whose music brings such passionate joy to so many music lovers all
over the world.



Music Composed by George Lloyd
Played by the Philharmonia Orchestra
With Cristina Anghelescu (violin)
Conducted by David Parry

"Over the years I have tried several times to come to grips with George Lloyd�s music. The first work I heard
was his Fifth Symphony and my immediate impression was how admirably he handled the orchestra. As the two
works presented on this disc amply demonstrate, there�s certainly no denying that in terms of orchestration
and tonal colouring Lloyd was an extremely fine craftsman. Appreciation of the craftsmanship, however, seems
to be as far as I can go, for I have never been able to discover the pleasures that so many others in recent
years have found in his music. Finzi does it for me; Howells, Arnold and Alwyn too, so why not Lloyd? If I am
honest, I think it is simply because I find the greater part of his output lacking in strong, memorable ideas.
If a composer takes the path that Lloyd chose then I think it is vital for him to say something new and to say
it with a richness of melody and invention that makes it stand apart from everything else that has, and is,
being created. A movement such as the last movement of the Concerto for violin and strings recorded here,
with its somewhat banal principal subject, simply doesn�t meet the right criteria for me, however superficially
pleasant and expertly crafted it may be.

To be honest, I almost thought that I had misjudged Lloyd�s music when I first played this disc. The opening
movement of the Concerto for violin and strings (1970) is one of the finest things I�ve heard by him. It has
real gravitas, memorable ideas (the strings� gently punctuated, sinister rising chords at 2'31'', track 1, against
the lyrical solo violin is genuinely powerful) and the movement as a whole is superbly structured. But the
remainder of the work does little for me. The Concerto for violin and winds (1977) even less so, though the
closing pages of the Lento second movement have beauty that can�t be denied (Howard Hanson�s Second
Symphony sprang to mind here).

Following the death of Lloyd last year, the insert-notes understandably spend much time reminiscing about
his connection with the Albany label, while telling us very little about the two works presented here save for
the facts that as a young man, Lloyd studied the violin with the great Albert Sammons and that �The symphonies
and choral works are big, romantic, immediately appealing. The concertos and chamber music are like - well
the two works contained on this disc� . The notes even confuse the two works (assuming the dates on the
track listings are correct).

For all I have said here, Lloyd enthusiasts will snap up this disc without hesitation, and all power to their
elbows. For me, however, the struggle for enlightenment continues - why can�t all Lloyd be like the first
movement of the First Concerto? Performances from all concerned (in particular Cristina Anghelescu) are
impeccable and thoroughly committed - enthusiasts will not be disappointed.'"
Michael Stewart, Gramophone



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No.510
Modern: Neo-Classical

Gottfried von Einem's (1918-1996) life was often as dramatic as one of his operas, but he managed to forge a
unique style that combined Romantic elements with jazz and atonal sounds and methods. The son of a military attach�
to the Austrian embassy in Bern, von Einem was educated in Holstein at a school with an emphasis on music, in Ratzeburg,
and in England. In 1938, he became a coach for the Berlin Staatsoper and the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, and felt that
experience to be formative, leading him toward composing for the stage. From 1941 -- 1943 in Berlin, he began studying
privately with the officially "degenerate" (entartete) composer Boris Blacher, who was very influential on his style and
wrote libretti for four of von Einem's five operas. At this time, von Einem also established friendships with Carl Orff, Egk,
and Wagner-R�geny. Aside from musical friends and experiences, von Einem's personality was, of course, also affected
by the serious developments in Europe. For several years, he had been helping people escape from the totalitarian
German state. Somehow, the Gestapo learned of this, and he was arrested and interrogated.

Von Einem was released, and obtained the position of resident composer and musical adviser to the Dresden Staatsoper
in 1944, simultaneous with the success of his first stage work, a ballet entitled Prinzessin Turandot (Princess Turandot,
in two scenes). Shortly after the war's end, his first opera Dantons Tod (The Death of Danton, 1944 -- 1946) was
given at the 1947 Salzburg Festival, securing international fame for the composer. In these first two operas, the von Einem
"sound" is clearly heard with its strong jazz-influenced rhythms, its touches of Stravinsky and Blacher, rich harmonies,
powerful string writing, and a sectional organization that avoids traditional continuity.

In addition to Von Einem's classically-shaped Violin Concerto, this album includes his own orchestral versions
of Mussorgsky's The Night on Bare Mountain and Schubert's Kuppelwieser Walzer.



Music by Gottfried von Einem, Modest Mussorgsky & Franz Schubert
Played by the Radio-Philharmonie Hannover des NDR
With Christiane Edinger (violin)
Conducted by Alfred Walter

"While she has often been associated with the standards of the violin repertory, particularly those
from the German School, Christiane Edinger has played a variety of works throughout her career,
including concertos by Tchaikovsky, Saint-Sa�ns, Elgar, Prokofiev, Bart�k, and Khachaturian, as well
as several by contemporary composers like Penderecki, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Boris Blacher, Howard
Blake, and Cristobal Halffter, who wrote two concertos specifically for her. Though she has lacked the
superstar status of modern string players like Anne-Sophie Mutter, Edinger was and still is recognized
as one of the finest German violinists of her generation. She has performed with the leading orchestras
in Europe and the Americas and has collaborated with such conductors as Herbert von Karajan, Neville
Marriner, Kurt Masur, Christoph Eschenbach, and many others. She has also regularly performed chamber
music, notably in her ensemble, the Edinger Quartet. Her recordings are still widely available on a range
of labels, including ASV, Arte Nova, Audite, Naxos, Orfeo, and others.

Christiane Edinger was born in Potsdam, Germany, on March 20, 1945. Her father was the virtuoso pianist
Gerhard Puchelt. Edinger began studying the violin at five and her advanced studies were at the Berlin
Hochschule fur Musik and Juilliard School of Music. Her list of teachers is impressive: Vittorio Brero (Berlin),
Nathan Milstein (Switzerland), and Joseph Fuchs (Juilliard).

At 19 Edinger appeared at the Berlin Festival playing works by Boris Blacher, risky repertory at the time.
Her performances were so impressive, though, that she was immediately invited to appear with the
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom she played the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto.

Edinger was soon an imposing presence on the international scene, regularly performing at the major
concert venues across the globe. She has appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic more than a dozen
times, in concerto repertory by Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Blacher, Zimmermann, and many others.

From the 1990s Edinger began making more frequent chamber music appearances. The Edinger Quartet
has garnered much critical acclaim, notably from recordings on the Audite label of music by Eduard
Franck, which feature the Opp. 54 & 55 quartets (2001) and the Op. 49 quartet and string quintet (2002).
Edinger has also collaborated in concert and on recordings with American pianist James Tocco.
Its recording of four violin sonatas by Eduard Franck was issued on Audite in 2008. Edinger plays
a 1623 Amati."





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No.511
Modern: Tonal/Jazz

A new recording with Riccardo Chailly, a top classical conductor, and Stefano Bollani,
a top jazz pianist, following their phenomenally successful Gershwin Rhapsody/Concerto album.
A new exciting programme focused on the magic �30s: a decade full of energy and creativity, in
which several top classical composers were strongly influenced by such modern trends like jazz,
tango and fox-trot. This is a delightful collection, with an outstandingly "jazzy" performance
of Maurice Ravel's magnificent Piano Concerto in G and the colorful ballet suite Mille e una notte by
Victor de Sabata being particular highlights - with some Weill piano music and Stravinsky
thrown in for good measure.



Music by Maurice Ravel, Kurt Weill, Igor Stravinsky & Victor de Sabata
Played by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
And Stefano Bollani (piano)
Conducted by Riccardo Chailly

"These "sounds of the 30s" are classical pieces, not jazz recordings or popular songs. But, from America to
France to even the Soviet Union, the influence of vernacular music in the concert hall reached a high point not
matched again until the 1990s and beyond. This release, reuniting the forces heard on an earlier Gershwin
recording, makes sense programmatically in its collection of works influenced by popular models; the works
here, with the exception of Victor de Sabata's Mille e una notte, are common enough, but they gain by being
heard together. Jazz-oriented Italian pianist Stefano Bollani nails the Piano Concerto in G major of Ravel: it is a
work deeply influenced by Gershwin and by the jazz Ravel heard directly in New York, but it was by no means
an imitation, and it is actually one of Ravel's more intricately structured works. Tending even more toward the
use of a vernacular style accent a composer's own personality is Stravinsky's Tango, which stretches out the
Argentine dance's characteristic rhythms into dry, angular shapes. The Tango is included twice here, in piano
and orchestral versions, for what seems to be no very good reason. Kurt Weill, by contrast, reacted to popular
music by embracing it wholeheartedly; he is represented by orchestral versions of a pair of not very familiar
but entirely lovely tunes. Which leaves de Sabata, better known as a conductor but also one of the original
"pops" composers; Mille e una notte is a splashy work that wears out its welcome after a while but nevertheless
offers an obviously much-enjoyed good time for the performers. Generally coherent, enjoyable, and recommended."
James Manheim, All Music





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No.512
Late Romantic

Being "one of the last giants of music" as Hindemith described Max Reger, his works are still unnecessarily
seldom featured in concert programs today. This release invites to listen to a captivating performance of Reger�s
Violin Concerto, a hugely charming big romantic work with broad sentimental gestures. Also the composer himself
felt extremely confident about the work as he wrote: "I know this sounds arrogant, but I believe that this violin
concerto will follow in the footsteps of those of Beethoven and Brahms." The CD winds up with a virtuosic
Chaconne for Solo Violin, Op. 117/4, a work inspired by Reger�s greatest idol
Johann Sebastian Bach.

Known for his exceptionally wide repertoire and a great sense of musicality Benjamin Schmid is one of the
most versatile violinists of today. Described as "one of the most valuable of today�s golden-age-violinists"
(The New York Sun), Schmid has performed with orchestras such as Wiener Philharmoniker, Philharmonia Orchestra,
Royal Concertgebouw, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Tonhalle-Orchester Z�rich, National Symphony Orchestra Washington,
Gulbenkian Orchestra, and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He is also a sought-after jazz violinist. In 2006 the Strad
Magazine wrote: "Schmid mesmerises from his very first entry, shaping phrases with a skin-rippling sensitivity to
send the spirits soaring. His golden tone, immaculate intonation, faultless technique and total identification
with this magical score are truly things of wonder."



Music Composed by Max Reger
Played by the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra
With Benjamin Schmid (violin)
Conducted by Hannu Lintu

"Once dismissed as daunting because of its length, Reger's Violin Concerto has attracted a new generation
of interpreters of late. Benjamin Schmid's recording marks its second appearance on disc this year, and offers
a very different experience from its immediate predecessor, on Hyperion, with Tanja Becker-Bender. Schmid's
playing is technically pristine, if cool, while the Tampere Philharmonic under Hannu Lintu opt for clarity rather
than depth. The underlying idea, presumably, is to emphasise the classical sinews beneath the post-Romantic
surface. But it's too detached for my taste, and you'll probably prefer Becker-Bender's fiery engagement and
the greater warmth of Lothar Zagrosek's conducting on the Hyperion disc. Schmid's choice of filler is the
exacting Chaconne for Solo Violin, which he plays with terrific finesse."
Tim Ashley, The Guardian





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Super shares, big thanks wimpel69.

Belated thanks for the beautiful George Lloyd disc. Dare I say, he was Britain's most gifted neo-romantic composer.

HAVE A HAPPY 2017 YEAR !!!!

Many many thanks

No.513
Late Romantic

When the symphonic poem The Raven after Edgar Allan Poe celebrated its premiere in London in March 1900,
the critics showered hymns of praise on this work so rich in unique orchestral colors and on its young composer
Joseph Holbrooke. It brought him his breakthrough and firmly established his reputation as an innovative
and original contemporary composer. There are certainly many settings of Poe’s poem, but Holbrooke was the first
composer who did not merely set the text but used it as the poetic basis for his first �Poem for Orchestra.�
Holbrooke’s idiom was the musical language of the late nineteenth century obliged to the primacy of expression,
and he enriched it with his constant quest for new tonal effects. In his orchestral variations on the beloved
Scottish folk song �Auld Lang Syne� he again displays his extraordinary gift for employing his absolutely
inexhaustible inventive talent and fine feeling for harmony in order to endow simple song forms with subtle
expressive variety. And his only Violin Concerto, The Grasshopper, radiates carefree lightness and is
brimming with rhythmic wit – as the title itself suggests.



Music Composed by Joseph Holbrooke
Played by the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt/Oder
With Judith Ingolfsson (violin)
Conducted by Howard Griffiths

"Violinist Judith Ingolfsson made her first appearances on the international music scene as a prize
winner of the celebrated Premio Paganini Competition in Genoa and the Concert Artists Guild Competition
in New York. Winning the Gold Medal at the prestigious International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in
1998 provided her with the final breakthrough as an internationally sought-after soloist. In 1999, National
Public Radio's "Performance Today" named her "Debut Artist of the Year" for her "remarkable intelligence,
musicality, and sense of insight.” The New York Times has since characterized her playing as producing
“both fireworks and a singing tone,” the Washington Post praised the “finely honed bowing and stylistic
finesse” of her playing, and Strings Magazine described her tone as “gorgeous, intense, and variable,
flawlessly pure and beautiful in every register."





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Fantastic share, a must have for me :) Billion thanks wimpel69.

Thank you so much for sharing the Holbrooke Selection!

Happy new year !!
And thank you so much, dear wimpel69, for the Holbrooke's violin concerto !

No.514
Late Romantic

Known as a conservative, Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936) rarely, if ever, strayed in his vast output from the mold that
tag denotes. His keyboard and orchestral works are especially Romantic in temperament, nineteenth century in outlook.
His Piano Concerto No. 1, dating to 1910-1911, came about near the beginning of an artistic crisis, a time when his
artistry started to decline owing to his taxing work as director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Yet the Piano Concerto No. 1
is generally considered one of his strongest compositions from this period. The Piano Concerto No. 1 is cast in two
movements, the first an Allegro Moderato and the concluding panel a lengthy theme and variations that is really the center
of gravity here. The work's form is borrowed from that of Beethoven's last piano sonata, Op. 111, whose two-movement
(Allegro and Theme and Variations) structure would also inspire Prokofiev in his Symphony No. 2 (1924-1925). But Glazunov
takes a different approach in this lush, richly Romantic work, neither scaling the transcendental heights of Beethoven nor
attempting the "iron-and-steel" extravagance of Prokofiev. The concerto's first movement is colorful and tuneful, the theme
and variations lush and brilliantly crafted, but neither attempts to etch out an especially individual character. It should not
seem surprising that Glazunov, who had spent much time in England in 1907, divulges a somewhat Elgarian manner in his
orchestration, especially of the second movement. Still, the work is not imitative and if it is not a major accomplishment,
it is quite a worthwhile effort.

Cast in a more traditional form - that is, in three movements -- than the composer's Piano Concerto No. 1 (1911),
Glazunov's Piano Concerto No. 2 is an altogether more reserved and mature work than its predecessor. The opening
theme of the first movement (Andante sostenuto), which sets the mood for the entire work, forms a foundation upon which
the composer liberally sprinkles dance-like rhythms and carefully crafted decorative motifs. The brief but powerful Andante
draws much of its inspiration from the thematic material of the lyrical finale of the composer's Piano Sonata No. 1 (1900).
The Allegro finale is crowned by an anthem-like recapitulation of the main theme in the finest neoclassical tradition.



Music Composed by Alexander Glazunov
Played by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
With Karl-Andreas Kolly (piano)
Conducted by Howard Griffiths

"Karl-Andreas Kolly studied with Hans Schicker at the Music Academy in Zurich, in Karl Engel�s masterclass in Berne
and with Mieczyslaw Horczowsky in Lucerne. Successful participations in many competitions including first price at
Jecklin, Landolt and Duttweiler Price in Zurich, Tschumi-Price for the best soloist-diploma and Prix Maurice Sandoz.
In 1990 he won the first price for Young Musicians of the UBS.

Karl-Andreas Kolly is performing as a soloist and a chamber musician all over Europe, in Japan, China, Korea,
Australia and the USA and has been invited to several international festivals. He played with the Tonhalle-Orchester
Z�rich, the Basel and the Berne symphony orchestra, the Barcelona National orchestra, the Vienna Jeunesse,
the Slovak Radio Symphony and many others.

Kolly�s huge repertoire is recorded on more than 90 CDs. Among them:The Goldberg Variations, the Well-tempered
Piano I&II and the complete Suites and Partitas by J.S.Bach, all the Etudes, Ballades, Nocturnes, Polonaises,
Valses and Mazurkas by Chopin, works of Liszt, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and the piano concertos of Skrjabin,
Glasunow, Busoni, d�Albert and Franz Schmidt."





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No.515
Modern: Avantgarde

Born in Templeglantine, Co. Limerick, in 1951, John Buckley studied the flute with Doris Keogh and composition
with James Wilson at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. His subsequent composition studies were in Cardiff with the Welsh
composer Alun Hoddinott. Following a number of years as a teacher he became a full-time composer in 1982 and has since
written a diverse range of work, from music for solo instruments to compositions for full orchestra.

The Concerto for Organ and Orchestra was commissioned jointly by the National Concert Hall Dublin, Radio
Telef�is �ireann and the Irish Arts Council for the new Concert Hall organ built by Kenneth Jones and inaugurated in
September 1991. "In composing the work one of my principal concerns was to maintain a balance between the orchestra
and organ, which, in a sense, is like a second orchestra. Frequently, the development of the musical argument takes the
form of a dialogue, with organ and orchestra in counterbalance to each other. Throughout the work elaborate organ solos
have analogous passages in the orchestra: elsewhere organ and orchestra blend and reinforce each other's material.
The orchestral writing is often bravura in character making the work a concerto for orchestra as much as for organ.
The concerto is in a single movement, which falls broadly into three sections," the composer comments.

The first sketches for Symphony No.1 date from 1983 but the main work on the piece was done during 1987 and
the early part of 1988. The first performance was given in June 1988 in the National Concert Hall, Dublin by the Radio
Telef�s �ireann Symphony Orchestra (now the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland) conducted by Albert Rosen.
The piece is in two movements, each of which falls into two large-scale sections, giving the impression of a four-movement
work. These sections correspond loosely to the form of the classical and romantic symphony. The main musical material of
the first movement is a rapid scale passage first heard on the strings. In conjunction with vigorous brass fanfares and
woodwind and percussion interjections, this material is expanded and developed by a variety of means. The slow second
section concentrates on a lyrical melodic growth and transformation of the earlier material. The first scherzo of the second
movement is built around short woodwind figures dramatically interrupted by brass and strings. The tranquil trio which
features clarinet, oboe and flute melodies lightly accompanied by strings and harp is followed by the lively rhythmically
impelled second scherzo. The final section of the work initially juxtaposes contrapuntal woodwind and strings with chordal
writing for the brass. The rapid swirling scales of the first scherzo return to combine with the brass fanfares and metallic
percussion to bring the work to an energetic and decisive conclusion.



Music Composed by John Buckley
Played by the RT� National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland
With Peter Sweeney (organ)
Conducted by Colman Pearce

"The main musical material of the first movement is a rapid scale passage first heard on the strings. In conjunction
with vigorous brass fanfares and woodwind and percussion interjections, this material is expanded and developed by
a variety of means. The slow second section concentrates on a lyrical melodic growth and transformation of the
earlier material. The first scherzo of the second movement is built around short woodwind figures dramatically
interrupted by brass and strings. The tranquil trio which features clarinet, oboe and flute melodies lightly
accompanied by strings and harp is followed by the lively rhythmically impelled second scherzo. The final section
of the work initially juxtaposes contrapuntal woodwind and strings with chordal writing for the brass. The rapid
swirling scales of the first scherzo return to combine with the brass fanfares and metallic percussion to bring
the work to an energetic and decisive conclusion."
Classics Today





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No.516
Modern: Tonal

Two of the three concertos on this recording were composed on commission from New Heritage Music, a publicly supported
non-profit organization which promotes the creation of works inspired by persons, events and ideas central to history.
Chen Yi and Behzad Ranjbaran feel a particular connection to individuals striving for self-realization, as they were
each born in countries where they suffered the lack of the freedoms that Americans hold dear. Both on this basis and artistically,
they proved to be ideal choices to create musical works celebrating the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
by the United Nations (Chen) and the life and thought of Thomas Jefferson (Ranjbaran). According to New Heritage criteria,
neither work is intended to be narrative or programmatic; rather, they reflect the artists' creative responses to an event or idea
that has personal significance. By contrast, Barber's Cello Concerto was not commissioned with any patriotic or historical
intention; yet it can hardly fail to have reflected the intensity and angst of the world situation - the last months of World War II
and the first few months of the peace - amidst which it was written, the more so because the composer was wearing the uniform
of an American soldier at the time. The three works on this program are thus linked by the struggle for human rights and freedom,
experienced through singular, individual life experience of the loss of those rights or through participation, in uniform, in worldwide
armed conflict on behalf of those rights. Chen Yi, born in China, experienced first hand the lack of those rights. She is one of several
talented Chinese composers to have moved to the United States after having been caught up in the terrors of the Cultural Revolution,
with its express intent of suppressing China's intellectual life. She came to the United States in 1986, and studied with Chou
Wen-chung and Mario Davidovsky and earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Columbia University in 1993. In 1998, she
became Lorena Searcey Cravens/Millsap/Missouri Distinguished Professor in Composition at the Conservatory of the University
of Missouri-Kansas City. Behzad Ranjbaran began his musical studies early when he entered the Tehran Music Conservatory at
the age of nine. Following his graduation, he came to the United States as a young violinist to continue his studies at Indiana
University, with composition as a secondary major. He went to Juilliard for a doctorate in composition. His teachers were David
Diamond, Vincent Persichetti and Joseph Schwantner. He has remained on the Juilliard faculty ever since.



Music by Behzad Ranjbaran, Samuel Barber & Chen Yi
Played by the Virginia Symphony Orchestra
With Paul Tobias (cello)
Conducted by JoAnn Falletta

"This is a stunning disc, even if the title is, well, rather silly and musically not particularly on point. I won't bore
you with the details behind the commissioning of the concertos by Behzad Ranjbaran and Chen Yi, which suggest
the dubious theme "connecting" the three works, particularly as the musical facts speak for themselves. I've never
much warmed to Chen Yi's output, which strikes me as being largely of the impersonal, atonal/ugly variety, but I
have to say that this concerto has wonderful moments. She tastefully deploys expressive effects (glissandos in double
notes, for example), takes the trouble to exploit the soloist's lyrical qualities, and contrives a colorful accompaniment.
At barely more than 15 tightly woven minutes, this single-movement piece doesn't outstay its welcome even if its
mood seldom varies from the determinedly grim.

By contrast, Behzad Ranjbaran's piece is totally lovable. Its first movement began life as a sort of cross between
Copland's Lincoln Portrait and Bloch's Schelomo, being a musical picture of Thomas Jefferson with optional narration.
Happily, it works just as well without the spoken text, and Ranjbaran added the present two movements to create a
marvelous--albeit stylistically traditional--piece full of good tunes, wit, a healthy dollop of sentiment, and effective
exchanges between soloist and orchestra. Even the long, rhapsodic opening movement really contrives somehow to
cheat the clock, maybe simply because its thematic material is so instantly appealing. It would bring the house down
in concert and deserves to be widely known. Barber's concerto, of course, is widely known, but perhaps not as widely
as it should be, and this performance can only promote the cause as it's the best one available, certainly more
involving than the comparatively detached Ma/Zinman on Sony.

Indeed, cellist Paul Tobias (for whom the two newer works were written) plays sensationally throughout. He handles
Barber's mercilessly high tessitura with total confidence and generously heeds Barber's "appassionato" directive
in the finale. His account of the Ranjbaran offers tremendous enthusiasm and warmth of personality, and he
preserves a beautiful, singing tone no matter what Chen Yi asks him to do. Joann Falletta leads her Virginia players
in ideally paced and excellently balanced accompaniments, while the engineers put you in the best seat in the house.
I am truly astonished at the wealth of fine new string concertos popping up lately, to say nothing of the superb
soloists available to play them. This disc is as impressive as any--a very worthwhile acquisition even if Chen Yi's
particular brand of modernism won't be to all tastes."
Classics Today https://s24.postimg.org/n9veyxkdx/1010.gif



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No.517
Modern: Tonal

Kwan Nai-Chung is a highly regarded Taiwanese composer and conductor whose works embrace Chinese and Western influences.
He has written music for symphony orchestra, Chinese orchestra as well as "traditional Chinese music".

The Cello Concerto, entitled "Endless Way" (alluding to a poem by Qu Yuan: "Endless may be the way to truth. I shall never cease
pursuing it."). The concerto is scored for Cello and Chinese(!) Orchestra and presents an intriguing mix of Asian and Western concepts:
The form is in three movements, and Kwan has adopted a major-minor tonality. The basic language would be neo-Romantic,
but of course the very exotic (sometimes harsh, sometimes glittering) sonorities of the Chinese traditional plucked & bowed string
instruments plus winds and percussion imbues the work with a very peculiar, unusual sound.

The Erhu Concerto No.1 is entirely for traditional Chinese ensemble, but it, too, adopts a form in three movements and the
basic theme-and-development structure that is alien to Chinese folk music. The erhu is a kind of Chinese violin, but of
course the sound is very different indeed: sad, lean, even depressing. But that may just be the outsider's view of
the instrument, and it is used for every kind of emotional state here.

The disc is completed by a short programmatic work, the somewhat clumsily titled Rite of Bumper Harvest. It is a celebration
of the autumn harvest of the native inhabitants of Taiwan and turns into a colorful, boisterous thanksgiving dance.



Music Composed and Conducted by Kwan Nai-Chung
Played by the Kaohsiung City Chinese Orchestra
With Jay Humeston (cello)
And Ding Lu-Feng (erhu)

"The Erhu is a kind of violin (fiddle) with two strings which, together with zhonghu, gaohu, sihu, etc, belongs
to the "huqin" family. It is said that its origin would be dated up to the Tang dynasty (618-907) and related
to the instrument, called xiqin originated from a Mongolian tribe Xi. During Song dynasty (960-1279), the
instrument was introduced to China and was called "Ji Qin". Soon the second generation of the huqin was
among the instruments played at the imperial banquets. During the Dynasties of Yuan (1206-1368), Ming (1368-1644)
and Qing (1644-1911), the erhu underwent a great development at the time of the golden age of the local operas.
The erhu then developed in a different "schools". Two famous artists Hua Yanjun (1893-1950) and Liu
Tianhua (1895-1932) made an exceptional contribution to the improvement of the erhu, and it was indeed
due to the latter that the erhu, an instrument mainly for accompaniment in an opera, becomes a solo
instrument. After the foundation of People's Republic of China (1949), the manufacture of the erhu, the
playing techniques, the repertoire as well as the musical education of this instrument have undergone an
unpresidented development. The repertoire has grown rapidly in the genres of solo, with ensemble as well
as concerti with symphony orchestra. Erhu now has become one of the most popular instruments in China.

The sound body of the erhu is a drum-like little case usually made of ebony or sandalwood and snake skins.
It usually has a hexagonal shape with the length of approximately 13 cm. The front opening is covered with
skin of python (snake) and that of the back is left open. The functions of this case of resonance are to amplify
the vibrations of the strings. The neck of the erhu is about 81 cm long and is manufactured with the same
materials as the drum. The top of the stem is bent for decoration. The two strings of the erhu is usually tuned
D and A. The two tuning handles (pegs) are found close to the end of the stem. There is no frets (as contrast
to the lute) or touching board (as contrast to violin). The player creates different pitches by touching the
strings at various positions along the neck of the instrument. The strings are usually made of silk or nylon.
Nowadays, metal strings are commonly used. The bow is 76 cm long and is manufactured of reed which one
curves during cooking, and arched with horse hair in the same way as the bow of violin. However, in the case
of erhu, the horse hair runs between the two strings. In another word, one cannot take off the bow from the
instrument unless one of the two strings is taken off or broken."





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No.518
Modern: Tonal

Edward Gregson is one of Britain�s most versatile composers, whose music has been performed, broadcast,
and recorded worldwide. This is the third volume in Chandos� series devoted to concertos by Gregson, of whom
International Record Review said: �He [Gregson] speaks to a large audience, without sacrificing integrity.
With superb performances and sound� this [CHAN 10105] is a release of vital, attractive and immensely likeable
music.�

The life-long fascination which Gregson has had with the concerto form began early but as he was brought up
in a Salvationist family it was inevitable that the brilliant sound of the British brass band should play an
important role in the early years of his composing career. This led to a parallel universe of musical
experiences: �On the one hand I was playing music by some fine brass band composers and on the other being
absorbed in the music of Bart�k, Prokofiev, Hindemith, Webern, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Tippett, and
others.� It is a musical environment that has greatly influenced his compositional style to this day.

One of the key works on this release is the Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra. The solo part is
here performed by Peter Moore, who at the age of twelve years was the youngest contestant ever to win BBC�s
Young Musician of the Year award in 2008. Gregson describes the writing for the soloist as �virtuosic,
encompassing the whole range of the instrument [trombone], but it also exploits the rather beautiful lyrical
sound of which the instrument is capable�. Gregson�s most recent commission � A Song for Chris, a concerto
for cello and chamber orchestra for Manchester Camerata � was premiered at the 2007 Royal Northern College of
Music International Cello Festival.

Here, the solo part is played by Guy Johnston who was voted BBC�s Young Musician of the Year in 2000
and went on to receive numerous awards, including the BRIT award for Best British Newcomer, the SHELL /
LSO Gerald MacDonald Prize, and the Musiciens B�n�voles Fund Award. Since making an extraordinary debut at
the BBC Proms performing Elgar�s Cello Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin, he
has become a fast-rising star on the international stage and enjoyed successes with major symphony orchestras
across Europe and in Japan.

For other works by this composer, look >here< (Thread 121898) and >here< (Thread 130729).



Music Composed by Edward Gregson
Played by the BBC Concert Orchestra
With Guy Johnston (cello) & Peter Moore (trombone)
Conducted by Bramwell Tovey

"Edward Gregson is a versatile and prolific composer who may be particularly well known and appreciated
for his imaginative works for wind and brass bands. That said, the three Chandos discs (CHAN 10105;
CHAN 10478) mainly devoted to some of his numerous concertos show that he is also a successful composer
of orchestral music. One of his earliest orchestral works, if not his first substantial score for orchestra, is the
Music for Chamber Orchestra completed in 1968 when the composer was a mere twenty-three year old. It is
dedicated to his teacher at the Royal Academy of Music, Alan Bush. It might be regarded as a sort of chamber
symphony although the title and some of the music rather points towards Bart�k�s Music for Strings, Percussion
and Celesta. The Bart�k model clearly shows through in the fugal introduction of the first movement. Other
influences such as Hindemith and Shostakovich may be spotted here and there, but the music already displays
remarkable assurance. The second movement is a lively, fleet-footed Scherzo with some fugal writing again.
The slow movement is a somewhat more serious affair. The Finale is a lively rondo with a jolly, jaunty main
theme. This is clearly a young man�s work, ambitious while still showing some of his influences. I found it
wholly convincing.

Composed some ten years later, the Trombone Concerto is clearly a fully mature work. It is compact and is
in one single movement, albeit falling into several contrasted sections. The slow introduction states some
basic material on which much of the ensuing music is based. It leads into a series of varied episodes in which
the trombone�s agility and lyrical voice are exploited in turn. After an imposing climax the music calms down
in a slow lyrical section followed by the soloist�s cadenza, at first unaccompanied, later joined by the
orchestra. It thus bridges into the final section that dances along until it stops rather abruptly. A brief
restatement of the very opening is capped by a brilliant final flourish. The soloist�s part is quite demanding
although it does not call for any �modern playing tricks and gimmicks�. Peter Moore is a fine player technically
and musically who has the full measure of the music.

Two Pictures for String Orchestra was not originally conceived as a true diptych since Stepping Out was
composed in 1996 and Goddess in 2009. Goddess, inspired by a painting of Dorothy Bradford in whose
memory the work was composed, is a beautiful and moving elegy with an eloquent part for solo viola.
The chiming climax is somewhat reminiscent of Vasks or P�rt. Stepping Out, of which this is the second
recording (the first is on Chandos CHAN 10105), is a short, dashing work of great energy which the composer
rather jocularly describes as �John Adams meets Shostakovich, with a bit of Gregson thrown in�. Anyway
this short work is the perfect encore for any concert of string music and, as such, deserves a permanent
place in the repertoire.

A Song for Chris for cello and chamber orchestra was composed in memory of Christopher Rowland,
a friend and colleague of the composer. Christopher Rowland was a member of the Fitzwilliam String Quartet
who � among other things � recorded the first complete set of Shostakovich�s string quartets. The composer
mentions that �the ghost of Shostakovich looms large throughout the concerto in more ways than one�.
These words need some explanation, some of which will be heard in the music itself. The work opens with
a brooding meditation by the soloist alone. At first somewhat fragmentary the music coalesces as it
unfolds. It then opens into the second section Intermezzo in which the composer weaves the start of
Shostakovich�s Third String Quartet (composed in 1946, the year Rowland was born). A short cadenza-like
passage leads into the third section Toccata-Scherzo in which echoes from Shostakovich�s First Cello
Concerto may also be spotted. This ends with a forceful timpani tattoo leading into the final section Song
in which a simple melody, already heard in various guises earlier in the work, soon builds in intensity
before reaching its optimistic close. A Song for Chris is a deeply moving and strongly expressive work
as well as a highly personal statement on the composer�s part. I am in no doubt that this is the finest
work in this release. Guy Johnston plays with committed intensity and superb technique. This is a work
that definitely should be in any cellist�s repertoire.

This release is the worthy successor to the earlier volumes, be it for the high quality of the playing,
the very fine recorded sound and � most importantly � the quality of the music itself. I hope that
more will follow soon. In the meantime I cannot but recommend this release most heartily."
Musicweb





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We needed new versions!

No.519
Modern: Neue Sachlichkeit/Jazz

The music of the Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff, who died of tuberculosis in W�lzberg concentration camp, was effectively
unknown until Decca released his opera Flammen as part of their valuable and innovative Entartete Musik series nearly twenty years
ago. Since then his name has become one of the more familiar of those composers whose careers were so murderously cut short by
the Holocaust. His music is a peculiar mixture of expressionist, neo-classical, jazz and outright romantic idioms, thrown together in
a perplexing and often fascinating mixture of styles.

The Concerto for Piano and Small Orchestra written in 1923 is described in the informative booklet notes by Susanne Zeise
as his �last Dadaist composition.� In fact the beginning is positively minimalist in style with strong impressionist influences noticeable
throughout. The title �small orchestra� serves to conceal the fact that Schulhoff employs an enormous percussion section in addition
to woodwind and strings � including steamboat siren, car horn, anvil, cowbell, ratchet and �laughing bag� � whatever that may be.
This phantasmagoric assemblage colours the more violent sections of the score, but the constant changes of colour and texture do
not disturb the onward progress of the music.

The Double Concerto is by contrast decidedly neo-classical in style, and although it is lively and approachable it lacks the
depth of engagement that one finds in the earlier concerto. This is a work which recalls the Frenchman Poulenc rather than the
German Hindemith, with a lively spring to the music and plenty of rhythmic bounce. Zicher is joined here by Jaques Zoon, and
both seem to thoroughly enjoy themselves. The Concerto for String Quartet and Wind Ensemble shows more the influence of
Stravinsky�s neo-classical style, although this may be simply the result of the forces employed. It bubbles along infectiously.



Music Composed by Erwin Schulhoff
Played by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
With Frank-Immo Zichner (piano) & Jacques Zoon (flute)
And the Leipzig String Quartet

"Here are three substantial concertos from the pen of the Czech-Jewish composer Erv�n Schulhoff (1894-1942),
the earliest being the second (though not labelled as such) of his piano concertos. Composed in 1923, it�s an
exuberantly inventive, bewitchingly colourful and often affectingly tender creation in three linked parts, brimful
of cocky personality and culminating in a veritable knees-up of a finale featuring a battery of percussion. Jazz
plays a prominent role in this riotous movement, as it does in the memorably bluesy central section of the finale
of the scarcely less appealing Concerto doppio for flute, piano, string orchestra and two horns. Conceived in 1927
for the French virtuoso Ren� Le Roy, it�s a bustling concerto grosso stylistically akin to contemporaries such as
Hindemith and Martin≤, and wears an altogether more approachable demeanour than the Concerto for string
quartet and wind ensemble that Schulhoff composed in 1930. For all the immaculate craftsmanship on show,
the latter proves a rather more obdurate offering � in the first two movements at least, a little of the irreverent
gleam has gone out of the composer�s inspiration. Bringing up the rear is a deft orchestration of Beethoven�s
Rage Over a Lost Penny that Schulhoff made for Czech radio in 1940 (the following year he took on Soviet
citizenship, only to be arrested and interned by the Nazis).

Performances are unfailingly tidy and sympathetic, the 2007 recordings by Deutschlandradio Kultur excellent,
and any readers yet to encounter the varied output of this fascinating figure (who succumbed to tuberculosis
at the age of 48 in a Bavarian concentration camp) could do a lot worse than investigate this likeable release."
Gramophone





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No.520
Late Romantic

Joachim Raff's Violin Concerto No.1 was dedicated to the great virtuoso Wilhelmj who premiered it in August 1871.
It had been begun a year earlier. Partly though Wilhelmj's championing, the work became popular throughout the
last quarter of the 19th. century. Although of only around 30 minutes duration it has the expansive and confident air
typical of Raff at the zenith of his career. The opening "Allegro patetico" is a very substantial movement by the
standards of the day and is characterised by a lyrical and defiant spirit. The extended, faintly melancholy "Andante"
non troppo slow movement follows without a break, as does the brief but brilliant concluding "Allegro trionfale",
whose martial character is probably assocaited with Raff's feeling of national pride after the Franco-Prussian war.

La f�e d’amour (The Fairy of Love), to which Raff gave the subtitle morceau caract�ristique de concert (literally:
"characteristic concert piece" or "concert piece with a distinctive character") is in fact virtually a concerto for violin and
orchestra, albeit of moderate length and ambition (18+ minutes). (We should remember here, though, that Liszt’s two
numbered piano concertos, written some five years earlier, are themselves of similar length.) Furthermore, although it
does not employ Lisztian chromaticism, La f�e d’amour is Lisztian in form, consisting as it does of three movements laid
out in one continuous span. Musically, one is often reminded of Mendelssohn in Midsummer Night’s Dream mode – after
all, this is explicitly "fairy" music. Thus woodwind chirpings and violin scurryings characterise the opening movement
with its catchy main theme and the soloist is hard at work virtually throughout. The central slow section follows attacca
with a beautiful cantilena typical of the composer and with further woodwind chirpings and shimmering strings suggesting
a continuation of the fairy theme, the movement later rising to appropriately amorous climaxes. The finale, also following
attacca, develops the opening allegro’s material, the mood being bright and cheerful almost throughout, although with
a hint of mystery. An extended and very brilliant cadenza precedes the coda which scurries breathlessly to a quiet
close on a high solo violin harmonic.

The Suite for Violin and Orchestra is a quite different conception. This is no concerto, not even one in disguise:
rather, it comprises five separate movements of baroque-style dances in romantic-era dress - an early example, in fact,
of neo-classicism. The work begins with a Prelude, a lively movement in semi-moto perpetuo style; there then follow a
stately Minuet which alternates courtly grandeur with more lyrical interludes and a Corrente which is a swift gallop for
the soloist featuring a broader theme in the orchestra. The fourth movement Aria is a soulful, but dignified slow
movement which rises to more passionate climaxes. The concluding movement, Il Moto Perpetuo, is just that –
a breathless moto perpetuo with further exacting, rapid passage work for the soloist over a more flowing theme
in the orchestra.



Music Composed by Joachim Raff
Played by the Symphony Orchestra of Norrlands Opera
With Tobias Ringborg (violin)
Conducted by Andrea Quinn

"Dapper, deftly orchestrated and with a light, lyric profile: that’s the opening panel of Joachim Raff’s 1854
Le F�e d’Amour. It accords well with Raff’s reputation as a tunesmith, though one forever condemned to be
known as a miniaturist when, in fact, as this disc and others have demonstrated, he worked on a bigger
span entirely.

The Violin Concerto No.1 had a tortuous history. It was written in 1870 for August Wilhelmj, but the noted
virtuoso intervened and subjected the work to his own re-write. He cut 50 bars, refashioned orchestral
passages, pumped up the solo violin part, added counterpoint and beefed up the orchestration. And it was
this free reworking that accrued to the work, Raff’s original only resurfacing in 1930. Fortunately it’s the
original version that we hear in this recording. Again it’s cast as a single movement with obvious demarcation
points. The orchestration is not over-colourful but always apt. Themes are strong, the music well laid out.

The fine performances, abetted by excellent notes and recording quality, make the best case possible for
works that are on the lighter side of the Romantic divide."
Musicweb





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Thank you for the splendid Raff share.

No.521
Modern: Avantgarde

British composer Dominic Muldowney (*1952) studied at Southampton University with Jonathan Harvey, at York University
with Bernard Rands and David Blake, and privately with Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Recent commissions include Leaves on the Line,
premiered at 2002 BBC Proms by The King’s Singers, The Fall of Jerusalem (2000) for Leeds Festival Chorus, Piano Concerto No.2 (2002),
which was premiered to much acclaim by pianist Angela Hewitt, with Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and a Serenade
for Horn and Strings written for Richard Watkins and The Goldberg Ensemble.

Muldowney is best known perhaps for the moody score he wrote for the John Hurt-remake of 1984 (1984), early in his career.
Unfortunately, much of the score was replaced with music by The Eurythmics. In his concert works, Muldowney's language
is fiercely "constructivist", as in the Piano Concerto No.1, less so in the occasionally lyrical, sometimes jazzy and Weill-esque
(but still very much contemporary-sounding) Saxophone Concerto. Both works are played by leading English soloists
of the time.



Music Composed by Dominic Muldowney
Played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra & the London Sinfonietta
With Peter Donohoe (piano) & John Harle (saxophone)
Conducted by Sir Mark Elder & Diego Masson

"The first thing to say about this record is that the performances and recordings give the music every chance to make
its mark. I have not seen the scores, but aural evidence alone suggests that Peter Donohoe and John Harle are ideal
soloists and that EMI have captured them, and the orchestral contributions, to maximum effect.

The first thing to say about the music is that both pieces sound like concertos, in that the solo parts are showy and
exhibitionist, with effectively judged relationships to their accompaniments. The Piano Concerto exploits Donohoe's
special affinity for the twentieth-century repertoire; the Saxophone Concerto does not censor out any of the
instrumental associations which might possibly cause embarrassment—the Paris Conservatoire test piece the
television advertisement, the big-band sound, the 'crossover' style of pieces like Berg's Violin Concerto.

So are we dealing with pastiche? In a sense surely yes, since the Piano Concerto seems to be structured around
a series of portraits most obviously of Stravinsky, Berg, Ives and Messiaen, and since the Saxophone Concerto
seems out to emulate the sensuous charm of a Jean Francaix in its first movement and the dynamism of a Bernstein
in its finale. But that isn't the whole story. Just when the Saxophone Concerto seems to have blundered by starting
its middle movement in the same lyrical vein as the first, it starts to grow intriguingly into something more active
and more vital; and I like the way this work lays a false trail at the beginning, with long-term musical consequences
as well as a pleasing local effect. No less appealing are the unexpected flare-ups and cross-cuttings which break
into the Berg 'portrait' in the Piano Concerto.

If I understand Muldowney correctly—from his interview with Paul Griffiths in the latter's New Sounds,
New Personalities (Faber: 1985)—he is not interested in neo-romanticism (though what could be more neo-romantic
than the middle movement of the Saxophone Concerto, with its regular swinging from one juicy harmony to the next?),
nor does he set much store by irony. It seems he is simply after direct communication and effective, perceptible
structure. In those terms one might query whether the varied reprises in the Piano Concerto are not a little too
meandering, and whether the endings of both concertos are not rather contrived. And in terms of the ideas
themselves it might be doubted whether Muldowney delivers the goods in quite the way that certain similarly
eclectic concertos of the mid 1930s do (Ravel, Shostakovich and Berg are the obvious examples).

The fact remains that this is an attractive record, and both concertos are certainly marvellous vehicles for their
respective soloists. Many will also applaud Muldowney's refusal to hide behind an intellectual smoke-screen.
Getting to know these works has been a rewarding experience, and it may be that more leisurely acquaintance
will reveal even more of an individual voice. Definitely one of the more enjoyable contemporary releases of the year."
Gramophone





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No.522
Late Romantic

In his day, Johan Halvorsen was one of Norway’s most talented violinists and an internationally renowned
conductor and composer. With its beautifully lyrical themes and Norwegian character including Hardanger fiddle
effects, his Violin Concerto was described by contemporary critics as ‘an outstanding work’ and performed
to great acclaim in 1909. It was considered lost, only to be rediscovered in 2015 in the archive of its original
soloist. With its equally confident opening and symphonic proportions, Carl Nielsen’s Violin Concerto
combines emotive power with a delightfully pastoral character, while Johan Svendsen’s spontaneously
inventive and melodic Romance has become one of his best-loved works.



Music by Johan Halvorsen, Carl Nielsen & Johan Svendsen
Played by the Malm� Symphony Orchestra
With Henning Kraggerud (violin)
Conducted by Bjarte Engeset

"Thought to have been irrevocably lost, Johan Halvorsen’s Violin Concerto was found in 2015 in the original
soloist’s archive more than a hundred years previous. Somewhat happier in mood, it was written in the mould
and stature of Sibelius’s concerto which had appeared five years earlier in 1903. At the time Halvorsen was at
the epicentre of Norwegian music having started out as one of its leading violinists, he had become a prolific
conductor, and in charge of opera and operetta performances at the National Theatre. The concerto formed part
of his catalogue of over 170 works, and was given critical acclaim when first performed in 1909, but probably
burned by the composer in his later years. In three movements, a honey-sweet central Andante is surrounded
by the weighty and virtuoso opening movement and a cheerful finale. Let me make no exaggerated claims, but
I often hear in the standard repertoire far less enjoyable music. Maybe it was just a little unkind to pair it with
Carl Nielsen’s frequently heard concerto, a score that stylistically looked forward to the new world of twentieth
century music, while Halvorsen looked back to the sunset of the Romantic era. Already in the Naxos catalogue
we have a much recommended performance from Jonathan Carney and the Bournemouth Symphony made
special among those available by the repose of his second movement. From the outset this new one, with
Henning Kraggerud and the Malm� Symphony, is more dramatic and pungent in the framing sections of the
opening movement, his famous Guarneri violin eloquent in the central adagio, while his faster tempi for
the finale is to be preferred. The disc is completed by Svendsen’s Romance, a short work that comes straight
from the world of musical soir�es. Outstanding orchestral playing in admirable sound quality."
David’s Review Corner





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No.523
Modern: Tonal

Jennifer Higdon (*1962) is one of the most distinguished composers working in America today,
and her music is a perfect fit for the Nashville Symphony, which has long maintained a commitment to
championing the country’s most important voices. All Things Majestic is a four-movement suite which
vividly captures the breathtaking beauty of the American landscape, and her wonderfully expressive
Viola Concerto and Oboe Concerto bring out the unique textures and sonorities of these
frequently overlooked solo instruments.



Music Composed by Jennifer Higdon
Played by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra
With Roberto D�az (viola) & James Button (oboe)
Conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero

"A violist of international reputation, Roberto D�az is president and CEO of the Curtis Institute of Music,
following in the footsteps of renowned soloist/directors such as Josef Hofmann, Efrem Zimbalist, and
Rudolf Serkin. As a teacher of viola at Curtis and former principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra,
Mr. D�az has already had a significant impact on American musical life and continues to do so in his
dual roles as performer and educator.

As a soloist, Mr. D�az collaborates with leading conductors of our time on stages throughout North and
South America, Europe, and Asia. He has also worked directly with important 20th- and 21st-century
composers, including Krzysztof Penderecki, whose viola concerto he has performed many times with
the composer on the podium and whose double concerto he premiered in the United States; and
Edison Denisov who invited Mr. D�az to Moscow to work on his viola concerto. Ricardo Lorenz,
Roberto Sierra, and Jennifer Higdon have all written concerti for Mr. D�az.

As a frequent recitalist, Mr. D�az enjoys collaborating with young pianists, bringing a fresh approach
to the repertoire and providing invaluable opportunities to artists at the beginnings of their careers.
In addition to performing with major string quartets and pianists in chamber music series and festivals
worldwide, Mr. D�az has toured Europe, Asia, and the Americas a member of the D�az Trio with violinist
Andr�s C�rdenes and cellist Andr�s D�az. The D�az Trio has recorded for the Artek and Dorian labels.

Mr. D�az's recordings on the Naxos label with pianist Robert Koenig include the complete works for
viola and piano by Henri Vieuxtemps and a Grammy-nominated disc of viola transcriptions by
William Primrose. Also on Naxos are Brahms sonatas with Jeremy Denk and Jonathan Leshnoff's
Double Concerto with violinist Charles Wetherbee and the Iris Chamber Orchestra led by Michael Stern.
On the New World Records label is a live recording of Mr. D�az's performance of Jacob Druckman's
Viola Concerto with Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra. On the Nimbus label is a
recording of the Walton Viola Concerto with the New Haven Symphony and William Boughton.
On the Bridge Records label are works for viola and orchestra by Peter Lieberson with the
Odense Symphony Orchestra and Scott Yoo.

Since founding Curtis on Tour eight seasons ago, Mr. D�az has taken the hugely successful program
to North and South America, Europe and Asia, performing chamber music side-by-side with Curtis
students and other faculty and alumni of the school. His tenure as president of Curtis has also seen
the construction of a significant new building which doubled the size of the school's campus; the
introduction of a classical guitar department and new conducting and string quartet programs;
the launch of Curtis Summerfest, summer courses open to the public; and the debut of an online
stage called Curtis Performs. In the fall of 2013 Curtis became the first classical music conservatory
to offer free online classes through Coursera.

Also under Mr. D�az’s leadership, Curtis has developed lasting collaborations with other music and
arts institutions in Philadelphia and throughout the world and established a dynamic social
entrepreneurship curriculum, supported by a prestigious Advancement Grant from The Pew Center
for Arts and Heritage. Designed to develop the entrepreneurial and advocacy skills of young
musicians, this curriculum includes the project-based Community Artist Program (CAP) and
post-graduate Curtis ArtistYear Fellowship Program. Curtis was the first higher-education arts
institution to join ArtistYear and respond to the challenge issued by the Aspen Institute’s Franklin
Project: to foster a 21st-century national service system, with a goal of one million service-year
positions created by 2023.

Mr. D�az received an honorary doctorate from Bowdoin College and was awarded an honorary
membership by the National Board of the American Viola Society. In 2013 Mr. D�az became a member
of the prestigious American Philosophical Society founded by Benjamin Franklin. As a member of
the Philadelphia Orchestra, he was selected by Music Director Christoph Eschenbach to receive the
C. Hartman Kuhn Award, given annually to "the member of the Philadelphia Orchestra who has shown
ability and enterprise of such character as to enhance the standards and the reputation of the
Philadelphia Orchestra." Mr. D�az received a bachelor's degree from the New England Conservatory
of Music where he studied with Burton Fine, and a diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music where
his teacher was his predecessor at the Philadelphia Orchestra, Joseph de Pasquale. Mr. D�az also
has a degree in industrial design.

In addition to his decade-long tenure as principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he
performed the entire standard viola concerto repertoire and gave a number of Philadelphia Orchestra
premieres, Mr. D�az was principal viola of the National Symphony under Mstislav Rostropovich,
a member of the Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa, and a member of the Minnesota Orchestra
under Sir Neville Marriner. Mr. D�az plays the ex-Primrose Amati viola."





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No.524
Modern: Tonal

Paul Hindemith’s post-war Clarinet Concerto was commissioned by Benny Goodman and
showcases the composer’s distinctive harmonies and rhythmic bounce. Dedicated to Eddy Vanoosthuyse,
Jan Van der Roost’s Clarinet Concerto, which here receives its premi�re recording, reveals a
work that balances the instrument’s serious and mysterious side against its acrobatic virtuosity.
Richard Strauss composed his Romanze at the age of fifteen, his ambitious precocity
creating music of great charm and elegance. Sergio Rosales, hailed as one of one of Venezuela’s
foremost ‘El Sistema’ conductors, conducts the Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra.



Music by Paul Hindemith, Jan Van der Roost & Richard Strauss
Played by Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra
With Eddy Vanoosthuyse (clarinet)
Conducted by Sergio Rosales

"Born in Belgium in 1956, and best known in the field of wind band music, the Clarinet Concerto by Jan Van der Roost
is receiving its world premiere recording. Having originally worked in his homeland, he now spends much of his time in
Japan where he has developed a conducting career. Expressed in a modern tonality, and in two extended movements, the
concerto soon registers it’s intention to offer the soloist a score that requires a formidable technique, though it stops short
of becoming a popular virtuoso showpiece. In two extended movements, the sombre and brooding nature of the first
movement moves to a fast and happy “bravura” final section that requires exceedingly nimble solo fingers. A hint of a
harmonic language derived from Hollywood films, hastens headlong towards its whimsical quiet conclusion. It is coupled
with Paul Hindemith’s Clarinet Concerto, a score that formed part of his four concertos for wind instruments, this one
commissioned by the famous jazz musician, Benny Goodman. A severe opening movement that never smiles does seem
a strange offering for a clarinettist from the world of jazz, the more energetic rhythms of the finale making amends.
As the disc’s ‘encore’ the suave sounds of Richard Strauss’s Romance is a score very much in contrast to Hindemith.
The soloist is Eddy Vanoosthuyse, one of Belgium’s foremost clarinet exponents and currently the principal of the
Brussels Philharmonic. Technically brilliant, it is a delight to hear his smooth tonal quality. From the Japanese region o
f Aichi, the modest sized orchestra is admirable, though the engineers at times coagulate their sound in the Hindemith."
David’s Review Corner





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No.525 (as requested)
Modern: Tonal

In 1938, Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) was an adjudicator at the Ysa�e International Competition for pianists; in his autobiography
"As I Remember" he recalled that ‘Hearing … so much brilliant playing made me wish to write a work for the instrument myself. I must have
put intense concentration into the wish for almost immediately afterwards the opportunity arose’. It came from the British Council, which
commissioned Bliss to compose his Piano Concerto to mark British Week at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. The premi�re took
place on 10th June that year, with Solomon as the soloist, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Adrian Boult. As to the
character of the concerto, Bliss described it in his own programme note: ‘It was to be played by Solomon and dedicated to the people
of the U.S. so obviously it had to be a concerto in the grand manner and what is loosely called “romantic”. Surely the Americans are at
heart the most romantic in the world’. ‘Grand’ and ‘romantic’ are certainly the key words for it is both. Here is a big-boned work,
energetic, ebullient, and forthright, but within this expansive framework there is also room for quieter, more personal emotions
portrayed in a rich vein of lyricism. The adjective ‘romantic’ is equally appropriate for a work following in the tradition of concertos
by Liszt, Tchaikovksy and Busoni. Indeed the ferocious double octaves at the opening of the work indicate Bliss’s intentions and a
virtuoso of a high order is required to fulfil them.

The Concerto for Two Pianos has its origins in one of the experimental works exploiting the voice that Bliss wrote in the
years immediately after the first World War, the Concerto for piano, tenor and strings of 1921, which is now lost. Realising that
this unusual combination would be a hindrance to further performances, yet being fond of the work, Bliss decided to recast it as
a concerto for two pianos accompanied by an orchestra of wind, brass and percussion. In this form it received its premi�re in
Boston in 1924. Bliss was still not satisfied, however, and reorchestrated it for full orchestra, and as such it was first heard at
the Proms in 1929. A final revision in 1950 resulted in the work heard here, although there was to be yet one more metamorphosis,
for Bliss sanctioned a version for three hands in 1968 for the pianists Phyllis Sellick and Cyril Smith.

Solomon's performances of the concerto led Bliss, in 1952, to compose his Piano Sonata for him and he gave the
premi�re in a BBC broadcast the following year. It has a similar overall romantic and heroic mood to the concerto. The first
movement has a relentless, driving force and grows from a rhythmic figure in triple time marked by a characteristic upbeat.
Contrast arrives with a singing melody decorated by grace notes. Two climaxes are shaped from these ideas but the movement
ends with a mysterious coda. A set of variations on the calm sequence of richly harmonized chords forms the basis of the
Adagio, while the finale opens with a passionate dramatic statement, which is immediately recast in a lyrical vein. A second
idea appears in dotted rhythm which gradually assumes the character of a swirling dance, to lead to the calm centre of the
movement with the initial idea played in an almost improvisatory manner. The tempo takes off again and the sonata ends
in bravura display.



Music Composed by Sir Arthur Bliss
Played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
With Peter Donohoe (piano) & Martin Roscoe (piano)
Conducted by David Lloyd-Jones

"In recent times Bliss's swaggering Piano Concerto has found a champion in Peter Donohoe, and it's good that he
has been able to set down his powerful interpretation as part of Naxos's British Piano Concerto series. As those
thunderous octaves at the outset demonstrate, Bliss's bravura writing holds no terrors for Donohoe and he
generates a satisfying rapport with David Lloyd-Jones and the RSNO.

[Peter Donohoe] With his commanding presence and rich tonal palette, exhibits remarkable empathy with Bliss's
red-blooded inspiration. This rewarding Naxos disc deserves every success."
Gramophone





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No.526 (as requested)
Modern: Tonal/Neo-Romantic

Sir Arthur Bliss on his Violin Concerto: "This violin concerto is the result of an invitation given me some two years ago
by the BBC. I have had to interrupt my work on it from time to time in order to write several pi�ces d'occasion, but perhaps this very
sidetracking has enabled me to see my main musical path the more clearly. Taking a comfortable tempo for its composition,
I completed the score at the beginning of 1955. It is designed with the customary three movements, takes about forty minutes to
perform, and conspicuously displays the soloist as the protagonist throughout. In my first movement I have followed classical
precedent and made its structure depend on clearly defined and contrasting themes, with interlocking sections in which these
themes, or most of them, show growth. (...) Without imitating a recent Russian example of self-criticism, I must say the third
movement gave me considerable trouble. There were several problems to reconcile. Up to this moment there had been no slow
movement. This finale had to start with a complete change of mood and tempo. I felt, however, that the character of the concerto
as a whole demanded a brilliant finish, and, for balance, a considerable cadenza for the violin without accompaniment."

A Colour Symphony, dedicated to legendary conductor Sir Adrian Boult, was Bliss' first major work for orchestra. Completed
in 1922, it shares the full-blooded Romantic style of his teachers at the Royal College of Music in London (Charles Stanford, Gustav
Holst, and Ralph Vaughan Williams), but is laced with a more progressive twentieth century edge. No less a musical figure than
Sir Edward Elgar encouraged the Gloucester Three Choirs Festival to commission the work, along with pieces by two other promising
young English composers: Eugene Goossens and Herbert Howells. Its premiere in Gloucester Cathedral in 1922, conducted by the
composer, was marred by a badly prepared performance. Some, including Elgar, found it disconcertingly "modern." Bliss revised
large portions of the symphony in 1932, and it is that version that is popular today. Bliss found his inspiration for A Colour
Symphony in a book about the symbolic associations of the primary colors in heraldry. The four movements, episodic in nature,
each characterize a particular color. The composer contended that the intent behind the work was to evoke or imply certain feelings
and moods rather than to dictate a specific program or scenario. This work is marked with vivid orchestration and a
tuneful accessibility.



Music Composed by Sir Arthur Bliss
Played by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
With Lydia Mordkovitch (violin)
Conducted by Richard Hickox

"When Richard Hickox and the BBCNOW brought Bliss's Colour Symphony to the Proms in July, it made less of an
impression than might have been expected; the lack of memorable ideas seemed to tell against it. On disc, though,
their studio-recorded performance is far more involving - the competence of Bliss's orchestral writing, with its
heraldic programme and Elgarian grandeur given an extra tang by borrowings from Stravinsky and the French Les Six,
has to be admired, even if one doesn't exactly go away whistling any of the tunes from a work that is traditionally melodic.

It's well matched here with the Violin Concerto, where the vein of lyricism that runs through the first of its three
movements seems much more personal than anything in the symphony. Lydia Mordkovitch's performance
is sometimes indulgent, but Hickox makes sure that she is perfectly etched against the orchestral textures
that are woven around the solo line."
The Guardian





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Thanks much for Bliss!!

No.527
Modern: Neo-Classical

Boris Papandopulo (1906–1991) was a Croatian composer and conductor of Russian Jewish descent. He was the son of Greek
nobleman Konstantin Papandopulo and Croatian opera singer Maja Strozzi-Pečić and one of the most distinctive Croatian musicians of
the 20th century.[2] Papandopulo also worked as music writer, journalist, reviewer, pianist and piano accompanist; however,
he achieved the peaks of his career in music as a composer. His composing oeuvre is imposing (counting cca 460 works): with
great success he created instrumental (orchestral, concertante, chamber and solo), vocal and instrumental (for solo voice and choir),
stage music and film music. In all these kinds and genres he left a string of anthology-piece compositions of great artistic value.

Papandopulo’s youthful opuses were marked by features of the “national music style”, as it was called, that is, of patterns from
folk music (either direct quotations or in the sense of the raw material and modal scale structures), while cosmopolitan influences
are also appreciable: the application of composition technique elements of the neo-Classical style: polyphonic in structure, with
Baroque energy and vital rhythmic movement, elementary touches of Impressionist and Expressionist musical idioms. Along with
a treatment of the instruments that makes great demands on skill, technique and virtuosity, very visible are the optimism and
serenity that permeate the music to the full.



Music Composed by Boris Papandopulo
Played by the Rijeka Opera Symphony Orchestra
With Oliver Triendl (piano) & Dan Zhu (violin)
Conducted by Ville Matvejeff

"Dan Zhu is widely recognized as one of the finest Chinese musicians on the international stage today, praised as “an
artist of affecting humility and beautiful tone production” by The Strad magazine, performing internationally in North
America, Europe, and Asia. His recent triumphant performance with the Boston Symphony at the Tanglewood Festival
has been raved by the critics as "truly brilliant, compelling, and polished". A native of Beijing, Zhu made his first public
appearance at the age of nine, performing Mendelssohn’s violin concerto with the China Youth Chamber Orchestra.
At age twelve he entered the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where he studied with Xiao-zhi Huang. Four
years later he was awarded the Alexis Gregory Scholarship to study with Lucie Robert at Mannes College of Music in
New York. He made his Carnegie Hall debut with Tchaikovsky violin concerto at the age of eighteen. His mentors have
included Ivry Gitlis, Gerard Poulet, and Aaron Rosand. As recording artist, Dan Zhu has appeared on several international
labels, such as Cascavelle, CPO, Naxos, ORF. His latest world premiere recordings of Boris Papandopulo’s violin concerto
and Bright Sheng’s chamber music album, both will be released in 2017."





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No.528
Modern: Neo-Romantic

A premiere recording of Christopher Ball's Horn Concerto and his Oboe Concerto, featuring soloists Tim Thorpe
and Paul Arden-Taylor, respectively. Also included are several other works by Ball for flute (Burgess) and accompaniment.
Ball's aim is to compose music which will communicate with and appeal to as wide an audience as possible, eschewing atonal or
avant-garde style, which makes these works highly listenable and enjoyable to all audiences. The style is akin to Vaughan Williams's
pastoral idiom (as in his Oboe Concerto), minus the underlying "angst".

For more concertante works by this composer, look >here< (Thread 130729).



Music Composed and Conducted by Christopher Ball
Played by the Emerald Concert Orchestra & Adderbury Ensemble
With Tim Thorpe (horn), Paul Arden-Taylor (oboe/cor anglais) & Roger Armstrong (flute)
And Jonathan Burgess (flute) & Leslie Craven (clarinet)

"Ball’s standard biographical sketch tells us that he was born in Leeds, and studied clarinet and piano at the Royal
Manchester College of Music among contemporary adherents of dissonance: Birtwistle, Maxwell Davies, Goehr and
Ogdon. His teachers at the Royal Academy of Music were Jack Brymer, Reginald Kell and Gervase de Peyer. He took
conducting master-classes with Monteux, Silvestri, Mackerras, Del Mar and Solti. His first interests in early music
had him founding the Praetorius Consort with oboist and recorder player Paul Arden-Taylor. Composition gradually
wooed and won him over and there are now concertos for recorder, oboe, flute, clarinet, violin, cello (2) and horn.

The Horn Concerto is a winner. It’s very much in the English pastoral tradition as the cover of the booklet might infer.
Gusty buffeting music written perhaps to depict gale-swept hillside crests meets the stirring RVW-bluff and robust
manner. The middle movement with its delicate echoes of Tchaikovsky Fourth’s second movement contrasts with an
excitingly windblown finale rife with hunting-calls. The attractively wind-carolling In the Yorkshire Dales is rather
Delian and just as mellifluously emollient as On a Beautiful Day (minor typo on cover of booklet). The willowy lad
of an Oboe Concerto strides out with all the confidence of an April morning romancer. In its central movement it
finds Ball’s accustomed calming centre of stillness. The finale has the buffeting energy and yeoman lungs of the
Horn Concerto as well as something of an Arnoldian glint and hiccup. This recording has been reissued from the
Pavane CD listed above. Peace and misty highland scenes pervade the Celtic Moods for flute, cor anglais and
orchestra. The flute alone remains on the stage for the Invocations of Pan which is in three movements:
Pagan Piper; Pan Overheard and Pan Piping. Two of these movements were heard on that Pavane CD in
versions for solo recorder. The music is pensive-reflective in the manner of a classically Mediterranean pagan
idyll. A Summer Day for flute and oboe and orchestra lilts and sways in a modern
take on the Mozartean serenade."
Musicweb





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No.529
Late/Neo-Romantic

Violinist Thomas Albertus Irnberger from Salzburg, Austria, together with the Israel Symphony Orchestra
and conductor Doron Salomon present with this new release two violin concertos, which are still relatively
underrepresented in todays concert programs. Austrian composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, mainly known for his
opera Die tote Stadt and his later work as a composer for soundtracks in Hollywood, incorporates in his
Violin Concerto D major Op. 35 themes and melodies from his movie scores. Of composer and violinist
Julius/Jules Conus of French and Russian descent on the other hand there have until today been hardly any other
compositions discovered besides his Violin Concerto in E minor. One to be mentioned, being a world premiere
recording, is the Elegy Op. 2 No. 1 for violin and piano. Pianist Barbara Moser is also the musical
partner to Irnberger with the four pieces from "Much Ado About Nothing" by Korngold.



Music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold & Jules Conus
Played by the Israel Symphony Orchestra
With Thomas Albertus Irnberger (violin) & Barbara Moser (piano)
Conducted by Doron Salomon

"There is a richness and lyricism to Thomas Albertus Irnberger’s playing which makes it ideally suited to the lush,
almost pictorial romanticism of Korngold’s Violin Concerto. He draws an immensely luxurious tone from his instrument
and has a wonderful feeling for the character of the work which accords well with Doron Salomon’s broadly sweeping
direction. For their part, the Israel Symphony Orchestra play this with enormous feeling and passion, producing some
particularly fine orchestral colour in what is already a vividly colourful score.

With well over three dozen recordings of the work available, and from some of the great violinists of the recording age,
not to mention a magnificent recent release from Vilde Frang on Warner Classics, Irnberger has his work cut out to
make an impression. He certainly does with his sound, but I find this all a little too extravagantly demonstrative to be
wholly satisfactory. It dwells a little too lovingly on what sounds nice and spends too little effort on tightening up the
detail so that the architecture is fully revealed. Perhaps, though, Korngold’s Concerto is all about what sounds nice,
and in that light this performance does stand up as a very worthwhile contribution to the work’s recorded heritage.

However, the companion pieces on the disc are what provide the most attractive aspect of the whole package.
Accompanied by Barbara Moser, Irnberger offers up the four pieces which constitute the Suite from Korngold’s
incidental music to a stage performance in Vienna of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. This comes across
very well indeed, especially given Irnberger’s instinctive feel for the idiom and the charmingly unobtrusive way
Moser supports him with some deliciously discreet piano playing.

Even more interesting is the first appearance on disc of the Elegy for violin and piano by Conus. This inhabits a much
more dramatic world, full of dark and passionate deeds. From the booklet notes, it seems that the piece’s origins are
shrouded in mystery, but as it first appeared in print just a year after the Concerto’s triumphant premi�re (given by
Conus himself) in Moscow during 1898, it is probably fair to assume this was an attempt to capitalise on that
success as well as to provide Conus with a showpiece solo of his own. Irnberger takes the work on its journey
from dark, sombre beginnings, through fiery passion to the deeply felt, and almost painfully sorrowful conclusion
with total assurance and conviction. Given such a compelling performance as this, one wonders why the work has
basked in obscurity for so long."
Musicweb





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No.530
Modern: Neo-Classical

Boris Papandopulo's name may sound Greek, but he has to be regarded as the most important composer of the twentieth
century in Croatia. His father was an aristocrat of Greek descent, while his mother, Maja Strozzi, was the most famous Croatian
opera singer of her time and on close personal terms with Igor Stravinsky, who quickly became the young musician's mentor and
promoter. Papandopolu quickly made a name for himself as a composer and as a conductor of the leading Zagreb ensembles, the
local opera, and the radio orchestra prior to World War II. Following a short obligatory pause (because of supposed collaboration
with the enemy), he again soon went on to play a prominent role in the music world of the newly created Yugoslavia. He was also
active as a music writer, journalist, critic, pianist, and r�p�titeur. Papandopulo's musical oeuvre is imposing, and it may be said
that every genre is represented in his more than 450 compositions. Stylistically, he is uncommonly multifaceted: folklore,
neoclassicism, and neobaroque as well as impressionistic and expressionistic idioms flow into his musical language.
Most importantly, however, his music is always full of optimism and vibrancy, full of captivating resiliency.
His Piano Concerto No.2 and the Sinfonietta form the ideal introduction to this artistic cosmos.



Music Composed by Boris Papandopulo
Played by the Zagreb Soloists
With Oliver Triendl (piano)
Conducted by Sreten Krstic

"When CPO strikes gold, it doesn’t just find a tiny nugget: it opens up a whole seam. The latest gold mine is
Boris Papandopulo, a Croatian composer active throughout the entire 20th century.

Papandopulo’s name comes from nowhere. He studied composition with nobody famous, although his soprano
mother got her friend Stravinsky to write him a recommendation letter. He spent most of his career conducting
regional ensembles and choirs in Croatia, with a break to lead a symphony orchestra in Cairo. In different periods,
he dabbled with folk music, neo-classicism, and the avant-garde. This is, so far as I can tell, the second-ever
Papandopulo CD, after a solo piano recital on Albany TROY1274 but what incredible music this is.

The piano concerto, scored for piano and string orchestra, has two short, speedy movements bookending an
astonishing 16-minute lament. The beginning leaps and dances in a way that will appeal to any neo-classical
music lover: you’ll think of Poulenc, Martinů, Dag Wir�n and the second Shostakovich piano concerto. A sunny,
emphatically tonal main melody gets spiced with fun Prokofievan dissonances as it develops. Then, as quickly
it is over.

That slow movement marks the introduction of a strong folk music element, transporting us instantly from
Paris to the hot, sun-baked Croatian hills. The piano does not enter for five entire minutes, waiting even for
the violas to introduce a solo chant-theme. The soloist gets a cadenza, then collaborates with the orchestra on
a song which builds to a big, conflicted climax. The structure is symmetrical, which means a piano is playing
for only six minutes out of sixteen. Then the finale brings us back to a lighter, livelier atmosphere, and a
joyful conclusion. I have no idea why this structure works, but it works very well.

The Sinfonietta for strings is another work of neo-classical and highly contrasted moods. The introduction
begins as purely and sweetly as Tchaikovsky, then slides downwards into a disturbing funk. Out of that
comes what else but a perky march. This tune resembles Dag Wir�n’s famous Serenade.

Papandopulo’s music in general is hard to describe without sounding far crazier and more illogical than
it is when you actually hear it. It may take twists and turns, but they make sense to the ears. He sticks
carefully to old-fashioned structures and harmonies, except for a nice helping of 1920s chromatic and
dissonant high-jinks.

Again, the slow movement of the Sinfonietta reaches into a deep bag of melancholic folk-tunes, and is
beautifully constructed around a long violin solo which is played with impressive skill, full tone and
heartfelt expression.

The short “dessert” on the recital is a suite of four orchestrations and adaptations of works by a
Croatian composer from the 1700s. Pintarichiana is thus comparable to Casella’s Scarlattiana,
Rodrigo’s Soleriana or a pocket-sized, strings-only version of Respighi’s Boutique fantasque.
Papandopulo was clearly taking his orchestration notes from Mozart serenades and Eine kleine
Nachtmusik with delightful results.

The performances are really superb and the Zagreb Soloists are at the height of their art. Sreten Krstic
conducts skilled performances and he gives one, too, as the violin soloist in the Sinfonietta. The music
always sounds fresh, vibrant and worth hearing repeatedly. Pintarichiana has an electric zip which
makes the music even more fun. Oliver Triendl is a good piano soloist in the concerto, too, handling
all the leaps and dancing rhythms with ease but his piano is seemingly placed right under the
microphones. Aside from that, the production is superb. I hope this is the beginning of a series,
because it’s non-stop pleasure and a major discovery."
Musicweb





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Many thanks for the Papandopulo works.
It's always nice to make the acquaintance of lesser-known composers!

Thank you for introducing me to Papandopulo - very impressive!

Thank you very much for Papandopulo, great music !

No.531
Modern: Tonal

Francis Shaw was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, in 1942 and has become one of the most versatile of contemporary
British composers, having written a wide range of music, most notably for film and television. In addition, he has
enjoyed parallel careers as a respected professor of composition and musical administrator.

As with many composers whose work has taken them into diverse musical fields, the range of his accomplishments has
tended to draw attention away from what lies at the heart of his output – his serious music, less extensive than that
of his more commercial work, but which - as the concertos on this disc amply demonstrate - is of a quality and
achievement manifestly deserving of far greater recognition than it has received hitherto.



Music Composed and Conducted by Francis Shaw
Played by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra
With Martin Jones (piano)

"The Lyrita label has been known in the mid-2010s for reissues of radio broadcasts from the 1960s and 1970s, featuring
largely forgotten British music of the middle 20th century. This release of music by Francis Shaw is not part of that series;
it offers a pair of piano concertos by Shaw, one written in 2013 and the other revised in that year. Yet, sonics aside, it might
easily have been part of the reissue series, for this is retrospective music. Shaw has been best known as a composer of film
music, but that idiom plays hardly any role in the Piano Concerto No. 1, originally written in 1988. Instead, the concerto
refers back to the Piano Concerto in G major of Ravel with its dreamy central movement designated as a blues and its
jazzy accents elsewhere. The music is more dissonant than Ravel, and there are hints of Ravel's English followers and of
a rhythmic tension that seems to be Shaw's own, but it's essentially music of a century ago. More interesting is the
Piano Concerto No. 2, in which Shaw the film composer is more audible, but his modern training is also given room to
develop. The locus classicus for this work is Prokofiev, and both the tonal and the rhythmic aspects of his music are
pushed toward new limits. Sample the substantial opening movement for music that develops in the manner of exploring
the experiences of an individual protagonist, but also is tightly knitted together and has a good deal of rhythmic
dynamism. Individual passages here might have been written by other composers, but the whole could not have been.
Shaw himself conducts the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, with pianist Martin Jones an ideal foil in the high-
energy passages, and these performances may be taken as definitive. Fine sound from a Slovak Radio studio in
Bratislava is a plus."
All Music





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No.532
Modern: Tonal/Wind Band

For their first commercial recording, the Alabama Wind Ensemble offers three concertos by American composers.
James Beckel's The Glass Bead Game is a horn concerto loosely based on the Hermann Hesse novel of the same name.
Scott McAllister's Black Dog is a rhapsody for solo clarinet and wind ensemble, inspired by Led Zeppelin's rhapsodic-style
song "Black Dog". David Maslanka's Trombone Concerto is a memorial to Christine Capote, a flutist and teacher who
was a dear friend. The performers and conductor Kenneth Ozzello are all faculty members at the University of Alabama.



Music by James Beckel Jr, Scott McAllister & David Maslanka
Played by the Alabama Wind Ensemble
With Charles Snead (horn), Osiris Molina (clarinet) & Jonathan Whitaker (trombone)
Conducted by Kenneth Ozzello

"The outstanding piece of chamber music composed recently by Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra principal trombonist
James Beckel takes as its program Hermann Hesse's novel by the same title. It is a tightly-constructed piece, juxtaposing
tonal centers of E-flat and A in representing Hesse's existential philosophy of life: the conflict between man and his
environment. Performers most familiar with the novel will undoubtedly understand the underlying leitmotif ideas about
characters [Joseph] Knecht, Father Jacobus, and the Music Master. However, audiences and performers not as familiar
with the literary background to the work will still be struck by the musical content. The work utilizes rising 5ths, . . .
motivic repetition and ostinato, oscillating figures, many meters, whole-tone scale fragments, and bitonality. It is in
three-movement design and lasts nearly 20 minutes, making this a major work for recital programs. A great variety
of percussion instruments add drive and mood to the work: piano, harp, xylophone, chimes, glockenspiel, marimba,
bell tree, triangle, timpani, vibraphone, drum set, gong, and wind chimes. A gamut of moods from the most subtle to
powerful and angular keep the listener's attention throughout. This is a marvelous new work that deserves to be
explored further."
The Horn Call





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A lot of thanks|

No.533
Modern: Neo-Romantic

Howard Blake (*1938) is a living composer best known for his film and television scores (a.o. The Snowman).
At the age of 18 years Blake won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music as both pianist and composer but found
himself at odds with his contemporaries in regard to musical style. He virtually stopped composing and became interested
in film and on leaving the Academy briefly worked as a film projectionist at the National Film Theatre. Missing music he
played piano in pubs and clubs for a couple of years until being discovered and signed by EMI to make a solo album and
work as a session musician on many recordings. This led him to work as an arranger and a composer, a role which gradually
became his full-time occupation.

This album features new classical compositions by Howard Blake, all world premiere recordings. There is a story to the
way Howard Blake and Sir Neville Marriner got to know each other: through the fact that they both have a house in
Kensington and use the same hair dresser who made the connection. The three concertos and the octet are easily
accessible, breezy and likeable works in a neo-romantic style.



Music Composed by Howard Blake
Played by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
With Jaime Martin (flute) & Andrew Marriner (clarinet)
And Gustavo Nunez (bassoon)
Conducted by Sir Neville Marriner

"This disc is a delight from start to finish. The three wind concertos by Howard Blake all make for highly enjoyable
listening while the Serenade for Wind Octet is equally attractive and no mere ‘filler’.

The Concerto for bassoon and string orchestra is the only one of the works that I’ve previously heard. There’s a story
behind this work. Some years ago Dr Len Mullenger proposed that MusicWeb International would commission the work
for the young bassoonist, Karen Geoghegan, then at the start of her career, to perform and record. Unfortunately, due
to circumstances outside the control of either Len or Howard Blake it wasn’t possible to bring that project to fruition but
Blake wrote the concerto anyway and here it’s played by Gustavo N��ez, the principal bassoonist of the Royal
Concertgebouw Orchestra. The concerto, which plays for some 12 minutes, is cast in three short movements and
it exploits the various facets of the bassoon very effectively. The music is thoroughly attractive. The first movement
is fluent and makes full use of the instrument’s compass. In the pensive little slow movement the bassoon’s singing
qualities are brought out while the finale is perky and sprightly. N��ez is an excellent soloist.

The Clarinet Concerto was written for Thea King who gave its first performance and recorded it. Sadly, however, she
never returned to the work for reasons that are explained in the booklet. Blake made some revisions to the first
movement and it’s that revised version that’s presented for the first time on disc in this recording. If you have
Thea King’s Hyperion disc containing this concerto and works by Lutoslawski and M�ty�s Seiber that will be her
recording of the original version of the Blake concerto (CDA66215). The Clarinet Concerto strikes a slightly more
serious tone than the other works on this disc. The first movement has a somewhat mysterious air to it. I particularly
like the second movement, which follows without a break. Here the music is mellow and songful; it’s gently expressive
and is expressively played There are ample opportunities for display in the lively finale. This concerto also benefits
from the advocacy of an expert soloist in the person of Andrew Marriner.

The Flute Concerto is simply captivating. The first movement is dominated by a lovely, airy melody which is sung by
the flute right at the outset. As the movement unfolds and the string orchestra gets involved with the melody the
flute decorations are most attractive. The second movement sparkles, living up fully to the fact that the term con Spirito
is included in the tempo indication; there’s also a more relaxed central section, which is very pleasing. The slow
movement consists of a beguiling theme which is then subject to variation, followed by a cadenza. The finale is,
for the most part, vivacious and high spirited. Just before the close there’s a welcome reminiscence of the melody
with which the concerto began. This concerto is zestful and delightfully fresh. Jaime Martin does it full justice."
Musicweb





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Super share, many thanks for Howard Blake, love his Piano and Violin Concerto, now let's listen to these concertos.

Nice Nice share!! Thank you so much!!

thank you, wimpel, for these albums to listen into

Please note: It has been brought to my attention that someone has now been sharing my FLAC music on two of the biggest private trackers.

I will continue to share music here, but no FLAC versions anymore. Just mp3(V0) with miniature covers.

well, we buy your option, many thanks!

Many thanks

No.534
Modern: Tonal/Jazz

These three Michael Gandolfi concertos spotlight less familiar instruments: bass trombone, bassoon and alto-saxophone.
The orchestra responds quickly with glittering colors with little introspection in these briskly moving, extroverted essays.
Gandolfi dabbles with popular styles: Jazz/rock explicitly for the trombone; the saxophone navigating Purcell, a bolero and
mambo. There are moments in the bassoon concerto, as with the Presto finale, which recall Copland’s popular idiom. Gandolfi
sports an easy-going language, reflecting bold American minimalism and an admiration for Wagner’s imposing edifices.



Music Composed by Michael Gandolfi
Played by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project
With Kenneth Radnofsky (alto saxophone) & Angel Subero (bass trombone)
And Richard Svoboda (bassoon)
Conducted by Gil Rose

"Michael Gandolfi is one of our most unique, visionary contemporary composers. His music cuts across all manner of styles
and influences, from jazz and rock to works intended for a children’s audience, such as his Pinocchio’s Adventures in Funland.
Galdolfi’s music has been played by many of the country’s major symphony orchestras and audiences have consistently
appreciated the approachable and eclectic nature of his work.

The three works here are a perfect example of the most appealing aspects of his music and make for a terrific introduction to
his music for the novice listener. Each piece here is – essentially – a concerto for a wind instrument and orchestra.
The opening work,From the Institutes of Groove, is scored for the versatile – but seldom heard – bass trombone. Written
for the present soloist, Angel Subero, and the BMOP, this work draws upon the talents of the soloist; especially in the
“salsa”-inflected opening movement, “Too Jazz for Rock.” I was especially taken by the second movement, “Rising in the
Wing”, that draws from minimalism and even a slightly “Renaissance-brass” sound but with what Gandolfi calls the “twist”
that – unlike most minimal music – the pulse and melody remain steady and long-lined, the harmonies change constantly.
This is a really fine and compelling work that keeps the listener engaged from start to finish.

Gandolfi’s Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra is an equally interesting piece and, although not as unusual a choice as
bass trombone; a new bassoon work is always welcomed! This piece was written for Richard Svoboda, the principal
bassoonist with the Boston Symphony and is scored in a fairly traditional three movements. However, the voice and tone
of the work is hardly “traditional” in its approach. I enjoyed every minute of this refreshing and innovative work.
Svoboda is a wonderful player and this concerto with its sparkling orchestration is an essential addition to the bassoon
repertoire.

The Fantasia for alto saxophone has the most unusual structure of the works represented here. Gandolfi considers each
of the four movements a “panel” characterized by an approach to orchestration that defines the movement as well as
provides its title. In “Rising Steps”, the music is built in the manner of ascending scalar passages. The coyly-named
“Bolero, Scissors and Paste” is a reference to the jazzy “snake charmer” melody that infuses the movement and “cut
and paste” to the composer’s use of small motives within the whole. The equally attention-getting “Recitative Surreale”
takes material from the first movement and joins it to a quote of a recitative from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and
played in mirror-fashion as well (surreal…) The closing “Minimal Security” is comprised of two opposing motives;
chromatic and bright versus diatonic and dark. Eventually the two minimalist-treated ideas occur at once as the work
comes to a close. This, too, is a very impressive work and this is another great addition to the repertory. Kenneth
Radnofsky, for whom it was written, is a great player.

The more I hear of Michael Gandolfi’s music, the more impressed I am. He has a very personal style grounded in
an engaging approach to harmony and rhythm, in particular which makes his music immediately accessible.
The inspirations for his pieces are eclectic and fascinating and they seem like great fun to play as well
as to listen to."
Daniel Coombs, The Audiophile Audition



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File Size: 128 MB (incl. cover & booklet)

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Thank you for Kwan Nai-Chung: Cello Concerto .

---------- Post added at 01:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:28 PM ----------

Erwin Schulhoff: Piano Concerto No.2 - so good to hear this great recording. Thank you.

Many thanks! Both links swiftly received. Looking forward to listening to more wonderful music. :-)

No.535
Modern: Tonal

David Rakowski's (*1958) music is prized for its originality, its explosive high energy, its visceral surface,
it unusual and quirky turns, its meticulous attention to detail, and for its unfaltering sense of form. He writes both
in large forms (nine concertos and six symphonies) and small forms (170 published piano �tudes and pr�ludes). He is most
well-known for his set of 100 high-energy piano �tudes, which are regularly performed worldwide. He is currently at work
on a set of 100 piano pr�ludes, of which 70 are written. He has received the Rome Prize, the Stoeger Prize from the
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Barlow Prize, two Fromm Foundation commissions, two Koussevitzky Foundation
commissions, and he has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts
and Letters.



Music Composed by David Rakowski
Played by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project
With Amy Briggs (piano) & Sarah Bob (piano)
Conducted by Gil Rose

"Continuing its impressive scheduled releases of new music as well as of overlooked twentieth century works,
Gil Rose's Boston Modern Orchestra Project has recently completed two new recordings, David Rakowski's
Stolen Moments and Piano Concerto No.2 and Virgil Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts and Capital Capitals.
Under its eight-year-old “BMOP/sound” independent record label, these two CDs are more evidence of the
significant role of Rose in providing access to important contemporary compositions as well as classics of
the previous century.

David Rakowski's Stolen Moments is a listenable and approachable example of his witty take on emotion
which challenges one's cerebral involvement with his music. With a healthy emphasis on jazz elements (as well
as the blues and even the tango), the four movements are assisted by the pianist Sarah Bob in a bravura
display of technique and stamina. The same could be said for the incredibly complex and demanding playing
of Rakowski's frequent collaborator, the amazing pianist Amy Briggs and what she brings to the
Piano Concerto No.2, demonstrating just how incredibly versatile and competent she is as a performer.
What she does with the three movements in the concerto is absolutely amazing. Few pianists would even
attempt to play the demanding piece, and one wonders how someone survives beyond such taxing and
seemingly exhausting demands. While it would be wonderful, if a bit daunting, to see her do such a
marvelous interpretation of Rakowski's composing, it's still a wonder to listen to."
South Shore Critic





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No.536
Modern: Tonal

With a gift for color, beautiful melodic style, clear musical form and engaging, dramatic work,
the music of Douglas Knehans (*1957) has gained the attention and warm appreciation of
audiences and performers around the world. This recording includes concertos for orchestra,
cello, oboe and violin.



Music Composed by Douglas Knehans
Played by the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra
With Jir� Hosek (cello) & Dora Bratchkova (violin)
Conducted by Christopher Lyndon-Gee

"American-Australian composer Douglas Knehans has a great facility for melody and these works amply demonstrate that.
Soar, his cello concerto started life as a work for cello and piano and was orchestrated in 2006. Remarkably there is little
indication while listening that it could ever have existed in another form since it works so well for cello and orchestra.
Despite its short length of 14 minutes this single movement concerto not only fully exploits the cello’s many and varied
colours but is a highly charged and emotionally rich work that also belies its American origins in that it has a distinctly
European sound, at least to my ears. The emotionally dark and disturbed nature is immediately apparent from the very
beginning and the powerfully stated argument is maintained throughout leaving a lasting impression on the listener.

Drift for solo oboe and strings is an ocean of calm by contrast and beautifully stated. Knehans explains in the booklet
notes that his inspiration in part was a mental picture of clouds against sky dissolving into each other as they move
across it and it certainly conjures up such an image. His hope in writing it was that the listener can appreciate this in
such a way as to have the impression that time has been suspended and that all that remains “is the beautiful sounds
of stillness hanging in the air” and I can concur that that was precisely the impression it had on me.

Clearly his desire to describe the natural world in music is a major motivating factor in his aim as a composer for the
next work ...Mist, Memory, Shadow... seeks to articulate his reaction to Tasmania where he was resident for eight years
between 2000-2008 and indeed he regards Australia as his second home. He points out in his notes that mist is a key
feature in Tasmania, one which cloaks the island in a shroud of mystery along with its majesty. The element of memory
comes from his feelings of contemplation heralded by the mists, encouraging him to reflect upon that majesty that is
Tasmania’s natural wilderness and how it fits in with past, present and future which is something we should all reflect
upon given the impact we humans are continuing to have on the fragility of the Earth and its natural features and
resources. The violin emerges as if it is part of the mist rising up into the sky and is a powerful image. It is so
heartening that gone are the days when composers fought shy of writing tuneful music and that they recognise
that how they say what they want to say can embrace all methods of expression without fear of disapproval.
Knehans’ rapturously gorgeous melodies are a delight to listen to.

Cascade –Concerto for Orchestra is an orchestrated version of a work originally written for two pianos and once again
it seems a perfectly natural approach for this music that falls into three short movements, Drift echo, Waves and Torrent.
There is a relentless energy here in the opening movement, less so in the first half of the second and on my first had
me wondering if the titles of the two would not have fitted better reversed so I mentally discounted them and
concentrated on the music which once again is extremely satisfying with lots of ideas being thoroughly exploited.
Then the music burst out of its more languid mood before once again subsiding and becoming calm once more.
The third movement has some more superb writing for strings with expressive themes which are worked through
in highly attractive ways and which sweep the listener on towards the concerto’s exciting conclusion. Knehans seems
full of ideashis music is never less than totally engaging and I found this disc a marvellous introduction to his
musical world as I am sure you will too. It is also very pleasing to hear two less wellknown orchestras, both of which
play so brilliantly with each conductor in firm control of these forces while each of the three soloists clearly admir
the music and admiration through their committed playing. All in all a fascinating disc of engaging music from
another composer whose music needs wider circulation."
Steve Arloff, Musicweb





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No.537
Modern: Tonal/Neo-Romantic

The Walton and the Bliss Violin Concertos make a compelling programme, given added interest here by the revival of the original
version of the Walton Concerto, unheard since the early 1940s. After the earliest performances, Walton rescored it without altering
the solo part, and in this superb new recording featuring the eloquent violin of Lorraine McAslan, we can fully appreciate the
composer’s first thoughts, which perhaps are more a reflection of the pre-Second World War musical world. The Bliss Concerto remains
the most impressive British violin concerto not in the day-to-day repertoire, and Lorraine McAslan not only underlines its lyrical
qualities but also plays the complete version, reinstating the minor cuts that are sometimes made.



Music by William Walton and Arthur Bliss
Played by the BBC Concert Orchestra
With Lorraine McAslan (violin)
Conducted by Martin Yates

"Initially trained in London with David Martin, Lorraine moved to New York at the age of 17 on the recommendation
of Isaac Stern to study with Dorothy Delay at the Juilliard School. Since then she has shared the concert platform with
many of Britain’s greatest orchestras, including the London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National,
Royal Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra, and with conductors
including Andrew Davis, Raymond Leppard, Jerzy Maksymuik, Libor Pesek, the late Alexander Gibson and Jukka Pekka
Saraste.

Her European debut with the Bern Symphony Orchestra under Eliahu Inbal was broadcast live on Swiss Radio. She has
performed regularly on BBC Radio 3 and her TV appearances have included performances with BBC Welsh and BBC
Scottish Orchestras and on BBC 2’s Music in Camera series. Her most recent venture has been the premiere broadcast
of the violin concerto of the British composer Lionel Sainsbury with the BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor Barry Wordsworth.

She has performed extensively throughout Europe, America, Canada and Japan. Lorraine has been guest soloist with
the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and performed with the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra for the Sultan of Oman.

A committed chamber musician, Lorraine has performed in recital with John Blakely, Nigel Clayton, John Lenehan,
Michael Dussek and Piers Lane at festivals throughout the UK including Aldeburgh, Three Choirs, Bath and Cheltenham.

Lorraine started her recording career in 1985 with an acclaimed disc of the Elgar and Walton violin and piano sonatas
for ASV. Since then her recordings to date for ASV, Collins, Naxos and Dutton include concertos by Mozart, Hoffman
and sonatas by Beethoven, Debussy, Ravel, Saint-Saens, Martinu, Jan�ček, Holst, Bridge and Britten. Her critically
acclaimed recording of the Britten concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra, conductor Steuart Bedford, was
released in 1990 and re-released in 2007 by Naxos.

Her interest in neglected British composers has led her to record several discs for the Dutton Epoch series including
works by Kenneth Leighton, Arthur Benjamin, Sir Granville Bantok , Dorothy Howell, Benjamin Dale and two discs by
Rebecca Clarke. Lorraine’s performance of the York Bowen Concerto with the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by the
late Vernon Handley, was released in 2006.

Her long awaited recording of the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Concerto and Julius Harrison’s Bredon Hill with the London
Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Nicholas Braithewaite, was released by Nimbus in 2008. Lorraine was the
leader of the Maggini String Quartet 2006–08, during which time she continued to champion British music by
recording Sir Lennox Berkeley, William Alwyn, and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies for Naxos."

In 2009, she recorded concertos by Richard Arnell, Guirne Creith and Thomas Pitfield with the Royal Scottish
National Orchestra and Martin Yates conducting and in 2010 the Haydn Wood and Lionel Sainsbury Concerti with
the BBC Concert Orchestra with Gavin Sutherland and Barry Wordsworth conducting."





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No.498
Modern: Tonal/Light Music

Cherished, even revered (yes!) when first presented to the public, derided as "lollipops" in later decades, miniature piano
rhapsodies or concertos composed for movies were all the rage in the 1940s, particularly in England - with Richard Addinsell's
still wildly popular Warsaw Concerto being the first - and certainly most famous - of its type. Other pieces, like
Charles Williams' The Dream of Olwen or Hubert Bath's Cornish Rhapsody followed in fairly quick
succession, and in the US Mikl�s R�zsa's Spellbound Concerto and Max Steiner's Symphonie moderne
(not included here) enjoyed great success, too. By the early Fifties the wave had subsided, and many classical
music critics have been voicing their disdain for these light(er)-hearted works since.

Taken for what they are, namely well-made and entertaining examples of (British) light music, I think they can still be
enjoyed today (which is more than one can say for most of the films they were written for) - which is why welcomed
this well-played collection of some of the more famous pieces in that sub-genre of concertante works. To fill the CD,
the producers added the concert suite devised by Richard Rodney Bennett from his most popular and highly
praised film score Murder on the Orient Express, featuring the famous waltz theme for the train.

Also included is a recording of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, which makes sense not only because
of the similar (if more ambitious) pattern it shares with the "film concertos", but also because Gershwin's work
has been used in motion pictures many times, too.



Music by [see above]
Played by the Bournemouth Symphony & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
With Daniel Adni (piano) & richard Rodney Bennett (piano)
Conducted by Kenneth Alwyn & Marcus Dods

"Legend has it that Rachmaninov was approached for a score for the 1941 wartime movie Dangerous
Moonlight and that when he failed to deliver Richard Addinsell was nominated as musical stand-in. What he
provided is a highly professional miniature pastiche concerto, mainly Rachmaninovian in flavour but with a
dash of Liszt at the opening. Its main theme is indelible. After that came Hubert Bath's Cornish Rhapsody, in the
same mould but less distinctive. Harriet Cohen, no less, recorded the film soundtrack and the film (Love Story)
was a huge success in 1944. Charles Williams's Dream of Olwen is little more than a 'theme' (in two sections)
but its popularity led to the film for which it was written being re-titled to match the music (which was the best
thing about it). Miklos Rozsa's Spellbound Concerto (complete with electronic effects on a theremin) is not very
distinguished but helped to establish a Hollywood atmospheric-cum-romantic tradition. Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue
is one of the great twentieth-century masterpieces. It is given quite a distinguished performance here, though
with undisguised English overtones. The other pieces are played with vigour and commitment and are vividly
recorded. Kenneth Alwyn provides a fine rhapsodic flair at the climax of Addinsell's piece (and there is a splendid
flourish on the timpani at the opening). An enjoyable disc."
Gramophone





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Great share, thanks :)

No.538
Modern: Neo-Classical/Tonal

A collection of French works for saxophone and orchestra.



Music by [see subject]
Played by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
With Johannes Ernst (saxophone)
Conducted by Vladimir Jurowski

"Johannes Ernst is a very good saxophone player ... and the Berlin Radio Symphony under conductor Jurowski is also very
good. But the most impressive thing about this recording are two works that together represent less than 25 minutes of
music ... but are worth it all on their own: The Henri Tomasi Ballade and the Florent Schmitt Legende. Both compositions
are far more than concertante works -- with their composers' inventive orchestration and rhapsodic writing, each piece of
music is turned into its own special adventure. Placing the Schmitt first on the CD might not have been the best move on
the part of the producers, because the listener is emotionally spent at the end of its nine minutes -- the score is that moving!
The Tomasi introduces us to a completely different sound-world, incorporating trademark "echt-Tomasi" jazz elements that
are highly effective (as always with this composer).

The d'Indy, Debussy and Milhaud works are certainly OK, but not as noteworthy. Besides, you can get the Debussy
Rapsodie and Milhaud Scaramouche on any number of other recordings. But by all means get this for the Tomasi and
Schmitt -- you won't be disappointed!"
Amazon Reviewer





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/>
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No.539
Modern: Tonal

Aulis Sallinen's Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, Opus 70, commissioned by the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation, was completed in
1995 and dedicated to the well-known flautist Patrick Gallois. The concerto, given the title Harlekiini, is scored for four string quartets, six
brass-players and a number of wind and percussion instruments, the last placed mid-stage to give a stereophonic division between strings
and brass. It is in four connected sections and opens with evocative orchestral sonorities, before the entry of the solo instrument into what
are firmly tonal textures. To the orchestral chords the flute adds fragments of melody, based on recurrent figures and motifs, passed from
soloist to orchestra. The Adagio section that follows harsh accompanying tone-clusters, offers an element of relative tranquillity, the flute
solo now accompanied by dense orchestral chords and by a percussion counterpoint. The third section is introduced by the soloist, after
the interweaving of the flute and solo violin line. Related material, sometimes angular in outline and often fragmentary in form, is passed
between the participants, varying in mood from the meditative to the energetic, before a gong initiates the fourth and final section.
Here a prolonged flute solo, suggesting a cadenza, leads to the return of the orchestra in all its varied instrumental colourings and
to a conclusion that seems to leave much unsaid.

Toru Takemitsu's Toward the Sea was originally written for alto flute and guitar, a combination of instruments that must recall the
shakuhachi and biwa which, in the hands of some modern Japanese composers have something of Ravel or Debussy about them.
Takemitsu's work was arranged in a second version for alto flute, harp and strings and first performed in this form in Sapporo in 1981.
As so often, poignant use is made of silence in all three movements, with their subtle nuances of flute tone. Although the movement
titles suggest the work of Herman Melville, the music itself paints another picture. Takemitsu himself spoke of his music as fragments
thrown together, as if in a dream, creating imaginary soundscapes, be it the serenity of night or, as in the third movement, the
evocative dawn over the tranquil sea.

Krzyszstof Penderecki's Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra was completed in December 1992 and is in one continuous
movement, although the tracks given mark some of the changes in mood. It is scored for a varied orchestra with an extended percussion
section and is dedicated to Jean-Pierre Rampal. Penderecki is eclectic rather than doctrinaire in his choice and use of musical materials
and makes considerable use of the varied instrumental timbres available to him, while his writing for the flute itself lacks the varied
nuances that Takemitsu could derive from Japanese and Chinese musical tradition.

A clarinet starts the concerto, presenting fragments of melody to which the solo flute responds and which will form the basis of what
follows. A passage for flute alone ends in a short chromatic melodic figure that is inverted and explored as the music increases in
momentum. A flute cadenza is followed by a passage marked Vivace in which the two melodic figures, one angular and wide-spaced
and the other chromatic, are featured. There is an intervention by the trumpet and suggestions of Baroque counterpoint, which are
to return. Track [9] of the present recording is marked Andante and offers a moment of rest and poignancy in its descending melodic
line and its oscillating flute octaves. There is an increase in harmonic tension before the energetic Allegro con brio, with its fierce
tom-tom accompaniment. The flute, following the percussion, introduces a further melodic fragment for development. An Adagio
brings, as at the beginning of the work, a duet between a clarinet and the soloist, but the pace soon increases, bringing a passage
for solo flute, briefly accompanied. An angular Vivace offers music of increased ferocity and then interrupted passages of Andante
recitativo for the flute. The oscillating octaves and descending melodic line of the central Andante return and it is in this mood of
melancholy that the work ends, with a final resolution on a chord of G, its major third implied.



Music by [see above]
Played by the Tapiola Sinfonietta
With Petri Alanko (flute)
Conducted by Okko Kamu

"Only in our time has the flute found composers able to reveal the full range of its expressive potential. This marvelous
collection of 20th century works for flute and orchestra is a perfect display for this multi-faceted instrument: joyous and
unpredictable with Aulis Sallinen, vaporous and languid with Toru Takemitsu, pungent and incisive with Krzysztof Penderecki.
Entitled “Harlekiini”, Sallinen’s concerto abounds in scintillating colors and mischievous instrumental effects, as one would
expect from the depiction of a Commedia dell’arte character. The solo part acrobatically attempts to follow the steps of
Harlequin, and Sallinen’s mildly modern idiom makes the whole adventure even more entertaining. The Finnish composer’s
work is as funny as Penderecki’s concerto is dark, packed as it is with angular chromatic lines, violent dynamic contrasts,
and tense rhythms. Toru Takemitsu’s impressionistic tone poems couldn’t be more different from the other works on the
program. His triptych Toward the Sea II (originally for alto flute and guitar) adds a soft Debussyan tapestry of harp and
strings to the solo alto flute. The Night, Moby Dick, and the mysterious fluidity of Cape Cod create a magic sound world
suspended between sky and sea. Petri Alanko finds the right atmosphere for every piece, while the Tapiola Sinfonietta
provides a richly expressive palette under the baton of the experienced Okko Kamu. A smooth initiation to the music
of our time."
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No.540
Modern: Tonal

By the 1930s many of France's leading composers were jazz besotted, and Jacques Ibert was no exception.
His Concertino da Camera not only appropriates jazz's most characteristic instrument, but employs plenty of
syncopation and, in the slow section, some bluesy material. Still, this is not crossover music, but a classical piece
inspired by a few specific pop trends of the day. The brief work begins with an Allegro con moto entering with a raucous
blast from the small ensemble of strings and winds. The soloist quickly bursts in with a percolating tune that eventually
makes way for a second subject that croons in the saxophone's high register. Here and in the very brief development
section, Ibert maintains a close, complex interplay between the soloist and the little band; indeed, the saxophone is
reduced to noodling in the background when the strings take over the second subject. The Larghetto is a lonely, bluesy
solo that sends the saxophone gliding oh-so-gradually up and down its entire range, with the strings entering at length
to provide simple support for the sax's ballad-like material. Eventually the woodwinds provide their own paraphrase of
the theme, followed by a string statement. Without a break, the concluding Animato molto arrives with jittery material
over which the saxophone dances and hovers. One of the soloist's main themes is lyrical but still syncopated.
The concertino's only cadenza arrives near the end, a free riff on tiny fragments of the movement's main,
sewing-machine theme; soloist and ensemble offer a bright restatement of this main theme in full, scampering
to an upbeat conclusion.

The Ballade for saxophone and piano/orchestra is the first in a series of similarly titled works by Frank Martin,
each of which features a different instrument in a prominent role. This work, nearly 15 minutes long, has the dimensions of
a single-movement concerto. The particular instrument called for is the alto saxophone, whose solo repertoire at the time
was rather slender. Martin deftly explores the instrument's still-emerging possiblities -- using it, for example, in the far
reaches of what was then its upper range. Though much of the rhythmic activity in is marked by syncopation, the composer
makes no overt reference to the saxophone's associations with jazz and popular music. Martin makes notable use of
dissonant sonorities in the work, lending considerable harmonic spice. Like most of the Ballades, this one was first written
with piano accompaniment and later orchestrated.

Lars-Erik Larsson (15 May 1908 – 27 December 1986) was a Swedish composer. The son of a factory worker and
a nurse, he studied with Ellberg at the Stockholm Conservatory (1925–1929) and with Alban Berg and Fritz Reuter in Vienna
and Leipzig (1929–1930), then worked for Swedish radio and taught at the Stockholm Conservatory (1947–1959) and
Uppsala University where he held the position as Director musices (1961–1966). His style as a composer is eclectic,
ranging from the late Romantic to techniques derived from Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-note system, but original in
method. He was the first Swede to write serial music (1932). Yet other works of that period are post-Sibelian or neo-
classical, and his output generally is characterized by variety of style. His Concerto for Saxophone and String Orchestra
is a typically neo-classical work of this period.



Music by Jacques Ibert, Frank Martin & Lars-Erik Larsson
Played by the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra
With John-Edward Kelly (saxophone)
Conducted by Juha Kangas

"For those that like saxophone concertos, these are well chosen. Jacques Ibert, a Prix de Rome winner in his student days,
became renowned as an administrator in the Parisian music world. He wrote in a delightful neo-classical manner (his
Homage � Mozart gives a strong hint where his sympathies pointed), and had a kindred spirit in Jean Fran�aix. His wind
concertos, for flute and this one for saxophone, are of fiendish difficulty and high jollity.

The Ballade by Frank Martin is an excellent work, utterly typical of this fastidious Swiss composer and reminiscent of
Concerto for 7 Wind Instruments. Brooding and dramatic, it features an almost concertante piano part, and skilfully
pits the athletic solo parts against a more lugubrious string section.

Larsson is a Swedish composer, unknown to me. This concerto is well written, with some interesting effects to enliven
the sound of the solo instrument. It is not a concerto to frighten the horses, and there is nothing very original about
it, but sax enthusiasts will find this a pleasant work.

John-Edward Kelly’s playing is excellent throughout. Technically secure and agile and solid in intonation even in the
highest register, frequently demanded in these works. The accompaniment of the little known Finnish orchestra is
satisfactory. A disc that can be heartily recommended to saxophone enthusiasts.

Staples of the saxophone repertoire, enlivened by excellent performances from the soloist. Well worth investigating
for sax lovers."





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No.541
Modern: Tonal

Daniel Asia (b. 1953, Seattle, WA) is one of a small number of composers who have traversed both the realms of
professional performance and academia with equal skill. As testament to this he is a 2010 recipient of a major American
Academy of Arts and Letters award. Elliott Hurwitt writes in a Schwann Opus review of the composer’s music, “Daniel Asia
is a genuine creative spirit, an excellent composer… He is a welcome addition to the roster of our strongest group of living
composers.”

Asia’s celebratory “Gateways” caught the CSO full sail. Written in honor of the CSO’s 100th anniversary, the title
recalls Cincinnati’s historic “gateway” role. Combining intricate rhythms and boisterous Midwestern braggadocio, it sounds
like a mix of Stravinsky and Leonard Bernstein. Brassy, robust “oompahs” alternate with quieter episodes, conveying an
infectious, all-American optimism… In fact, if another “Fanfare for the Common Man” (by Aaron Copland, premiered by
the CSO in 1943) is to come from this season’s crop of centennial fanfares, Asia’s “Gateways” may be it. –M. E. Hutton,
The Cincinnati Post

"Schub’s performance of the challenging but listener-friendly Piano Concerto is a tour de force. Sedares and
the orchestra handle the complex and varied orchestration with an excellence that underscores the New Zealand
Symphony’s fine reputation….this recording should make a major step toward getting Asia the recognition he deserves."



Music Composed by Daniel Asia
Played by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
With Andr�-Michel Schub (piano)
Conduced by James Sedares

"Gateways, a five minute overture dating from 1993 was written on commission from the Cincinnati Symphony. It is an
immensely appealing, extroverted work written in a highly accessible style. It is full of syncopated rhythms, suggestive at
times of popular music, expertly orchestrated. At times the piece reminds me of Stravinsky's Circus Polka.

The Piano Concerto written the following year is fairly much in the same harmonic idiom. From a stylistic standpoint I am
reminded of the music of Tippett, his Piano Concerto in particular, and "Riverrun" by Stephen Albert. From time to time
I hear some of the harmonic sense found in much of what I have heard by Torke. Listening to the first movement I found
myself picking out all of the stylistic influences. Only after the first few listenings was I able to get beyond those references
and found it to be engaging, expertly crafted music. The second movement was almost bereft of distinguished thematic
material and at a duration of twenty minutes, far outstayed its welcome. While it was marked with some expressive
moments, it seems to me that it would be much more convincing at half its length. The spirited finale is filled with many
of the aspects that make for a successful concerto, including repeated iterations of the thematic material offering the
soloist an opportunity to display some of that technique they work so hard to perfect. Considered as a whole, there is
much that I find attractive about this work, especially in the first movement. It is the most convincing musical
statement I have heard from him.

"Black Light" is a two movement work derived from a portion of Asia's "Scherzo Sonata" for piano of 1987. Its realization
in orchestral form is a relatively intense work which quickly traverses a variety of moods without really conveying to my
ears much of a sense of purpose. Asia has come a long way in a short period of time. The first movement of his
Concerto is my first indication that his potential as a composer is being fulfilled.

Andr�-Michel Schub gives an expert performance of the Concerto. Sedares' expert conducting is clearly in sympathy
with the music. The playing of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is excellent. Great recorded sound."
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No.542
Modern: Tonal

A native of Inner Mongolia, Wenchen Qin grew up with the folk music of his homeland and is now one of
China’s most influential composers. His violin concerto The Border of the Mountains exploits the extraordinary
colours and flexibility of both orchestra and soloist, echoing nature and the songs and spirituality of the mountains.
Each movement of the cello concerto Dawn is based on a fragment of text by the poet Hai Zi, while Calling for
Phoenix, inspired by the series of paintings Phoenix in Fire by Xiao-he Tang and Li Cheng, is an intensely virtuosic
concerto for suona, a traditional double-reed instrument.



Music Composed by Qin Wenchen
Played by the ORF Sinfonieorchester
With Mengla Huang (violin) & Li-Wei Qin (cello)
And Qianyuan Zhang (suona)
Conducted by Gottfried Rabl

"Born in Inner Mongolia in 1966, Wenchen Qin studied composition in China before completing his education in Europe,
and there he has found considerable success. Though the notes that come with the disc would stress his connection with
the folk music of his homeland, it is at the forefront of a modernity that we find in much of the music on this disc. It is
fashioned in a world of atonality, the opening movement of the Violin Concerto often brutal in its orchestral outbursts
that have connections with the extreme avant garde Polish and Russian composers in the late 20th century. The solo
violin remains a lone voice trying to be heard like a lost soul in a strange world, and in the final bars it dies in peace and
quietness. The Cello Concerto came four years earlier in 2008 and is also in three movements given the name Dawn,
Wind and Fire, the music a recreation of those visions. Again it is created by atonality, the cello a more potent presence
than the soloist in the Violin Concerto, and shows his virtuosity in the brilliant finale. Both Mengla Huang and Li-Wei Qin
were born in Shanghi, Huang completing his violin studies in London, while Qin moved to live in Australia as a young
boy and musically graduating there. Both enjoy a major presence on both sides of the Atlantic, Qin playing a gorgeous
Joseph Guadagnini cello of 1780. In Western terms the Suona is a double-reed woodwind akin to a shawm, and is
here pictured as the mythical Phoenix who flies to the sun. Here the composer is more kind to the solitary musical
voice of Qianyuan Zhang, while the Austrian Radio Orchestra and their conductor, Gottfried Rabl, is kept under
fetters. The massive dynamic range required is captured in an outstanding recording."
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No.543
Modern: Tonal

Alberto Ginastera's choice of concerto instruments was mainly conventional; he wrote one concerto for violin and
two each for piano and cello. Yet the fact that he also produced a concerto for harp shouldn't seem uncharacteristic; it can
convincingly be considered a close relative of the guitar, and the guitar was essential to the Argentine folk music that so
fascinated Ginastera. He wrote his Harp Concerto during a period when he was consolidating folk influences into a
more rugged contemporary language; earlier, he had used folklore more directly, and later he would give it all up in favor
of serialism and other advanced techniques.

The Harp Concerto's first movement opens percussively and along with the third movement, are both inspired by
the Argentine malambo, a 6/8 dance contest for gauchos that involves much stamping of heels. Argentina's tango
embraces the eroticism of both sexes, but the rural malambo is purely virile; this is rather ironic in the context of this
concerto, given that the harp is played by more women than men. The opening "Allegro giusto" is strongly rhythmic and
viscerally exciting, although it does include as its second subject, material that is more mysterious and slightly antique-
sounding, but still with a throbbing undercurrent. The slow second movement, "Molto moderato," keeps the harp in the
foreground and employs the orchestra mainly for discrete support. The numinous, nocturnal ambience evokes Bart�k,
particularly with its use of celesta and a brief canonic passage for strings. A long solo cadenza (Liberamente capriccioso)
opens the final movement. It surges and hesitates, incorporating special effects with pedals, fingernails, and harmonics
without ever falling in line with the avant-garde (unlike Ginastera's Violin Concerto of the following decade).
The inevitable harp glissandi are interrupted by a slap from the orchestra, which brings on another malambo
(Vivace). The rhythmic pressure never lets up, not even when the orchestra is reduced to the strings' thumping
under the wood of their bows. It all builds to a dissonant, exceptionally dramatic conclusion.

To fulfill a commission from the National Institute of Culture and Fine Arts of Venezuela for a work to be premiered by
Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra at a 1966 festival in Caracas, Ginastera simply expanded much of his
1958 String Quartet No. 2 to create the Concerto for String Orchestra. He jettisoned the first of the quartet's
five movements, shuffled the others, beefed up the instrumentation, and, in places, composed additional passages.
The quartet had been Ginastera's first entirely serial work, but its powerful rhythms and melodic contours tied it closely
to Argentine folk dance and song. This is more apparent in the raw, direct four-instrument version; the string-orchestra
expansion seems a bit more distant and abstract.



Music Composed by Alberto Ginastera
Played by the Orchestre de Picardie
With Marie-Pierre Langlamet (harp)
Conducted by Edmon Colomer

"Is Ginastera as popular as he ought to be? He is reasonably represented in the record catalogue (though his operas are
noticeably absent) but I can't help feeling that his music ought to be more popular than it is. Perhaps he has the misfortune
to be still regarded as a Nationalist composer, at best a sort of Argentinian Bart�k. His music has gone through distinct
phases, starting with works in a purely nationalistic folk-idiom he gradually absorbed and sublimated the folk material.
Experimenting with serialism in the 1950s, his style developed into something unique which, whilst still owing something
to his Argentinian roots, is worlds apart from kitsch folkloric extravaganzas.

The Harp Concerto was written in 1956 but only received its first performance in 1965 when Nicanor Zabaleta performed
it with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy. An attractive work which flirts with dissonance whilst remaining
attractively melodic, it is well scored so that the harp is never overwhelmed by the orchestra. In the first movement,
highly rhythmic sections on the full orchestra alternate with rather more rhapsodic episodes which allow the harp to shine.
It concludes with a surprisingly quiet finale. This leads in to the rather Bart�kian slow movement. The rather angular
melodic material, hauntingly played, creates an atmospheric movement. This leads, via a surprisingly low key cadenza,
into the finale which is driven along by the underlying syncopated rhythms. The Orchestra de Picardie respond very
well to Ginastera's taut rhythms and harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet relishes the opportunities that Ginastera gives her.
It is not a bravura work, but the solo parts contains much that is subtle and attractive.

In the Variaciones Concertantes, written in 1953, we reach one of Ginastera's most well known and attractive orchestral
works. In the composer's own take on concerto grosso form, a series of 12 variations on an original theme provide solo
opportunities for most of the section principals in the orchestra. The harp and cello introduce the theme in a prelude
suffused with warm Latin light, the composer then carefully shapes the different variations so that the resulting work
has a satisfactory shape, concluding with a rousing rondo, a sort of South American fiesta. All the principals play well
and the different variations show the orchestra off well, though there was the odd moment of uncertain tuning. The most
virtuoso variations are probably the giocoso flute one and the clarinet scherzo, but the horns have a striking pastorale
moment and the trumpet and trombone a rather rhythmic one.

The Concerto for Strings was written for Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra and was premiered in 1966. Ginastera's
style had developed, during the late 1950s and 1960s he had been writing music in his own, distinctive brand of serialism.
The composer himself described the 'Concerto for Strings' as belonging to his neo-expressionist period. Like the Variaciones
Concertantes the concerto calls for a solo quintet (2 violins, viola, cello and double-bass) to contrast with the main body
of the strings. This is tougher music than the other two pieces on this disc. And lacking woodwind and brass, it does not
have the attractive gloss which Ginastera's brilliant orchestration gives. But it is a strong piece and given a fine
performance here. It begins with a series of variations for each of the members of the solo quintet. The cadenza-like
theme is stated first by the first violin and incorporates quarter tones. The second movement is the suitably titled
Scherzo Fantastico. The slow movement is a beautifully anguished Adagio which leads to a hard-driven, fast and
furious finale. This is strong music and at times the strings of the Orchestre de Picardie seemed a little stretched,
but they give a tremendous performance and their lean tone suits this masterly work. I Musici di Montreal on Chandos
have the benefit of a somewhat clearer recording and give a technically brilliant performance. But their disc is devoted
simply to string music from a variety of composers, rather than the current disc’s rather illuminating survey of
Ginastera’s music.

The Orchestre de Picardie is composed of 35 musicians and gives around two dozen concert a year both in Picardie
and in the larger towns in France. Their musical director, Edmon Colomer, is a Spaniard. He seems entirely in sympathy
with Ginastera's music and the orchestra respond well to his direction. You could imagine performances given with
lusher string tone perhaps, but I rather think that the Orchestre de Picardie's lean tone serve this music well. They
have also recorded discs of music by Honegger and Milhaud, so it is enterprising of them to commit a whole disc
to the South American, Ginastera.

You can gain some insight into the reasons for the critical reaction to Ginastera in Europe when you consider the sort
of music being produced by the European avant-garde at this time. No matter how much he experimented with
serialism, Ginastera's brand of well crafted, approachable music must have seem enormously old fashioned. But in
today's rather more forgiving, pluralistic society there is no reason why this attractive music should not get the
success it deserves."
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No.544
Modern: Tonal/Neo-Romantic

Anthony Ritchie was born in New Zealand in 1960, the son of prominent composer John Ritchie. He completed a Ph.D.
on the music of Bartok in 1987, studying at the Bartok Archives in Budapest. He also studied composition with Attila Bozay at the
Liszt Academy, and completed his Mus.B (Honours) at the University of Canterbury. During this time his Concertino for Piano and
Strings was recorded onto LP by Kiwi Pacific. Anthony is a senior lecturer in composition at the University of Otago, as well
as freelance composing. His works are regularly performed in New Zealand, and increasingly overseas as well.

John Ritchie, Anthony's dad, (1921-2014) was a New Zealand composer and professor of music at the University of Canterbury.
He graduated in music at the Otago University and trained as a teacher at Dunedin Teachers' College. Ritchie served in the navy in
World War II and subsequently undertook post-graduate study with Walter Piston at Harvard University from 1956-57. As a composer
he is known for choral music, music for brass, concerto-type works, carols and church music.

Chloe Moon, born in 1952, was educated at the University of Canterbury, graduating with a BMus (hons) in 1973. From
1974 to 1977 she was a member of the Camerata Quartet. She was awarded a post-graduate scholarship by the Belgian
Government for violin study at Ghent in 1977. From 1978-83 she was a part-time lecturer at the School of Music, University
of Canterbury. From 1985 to date she has been a private music teacher, freelance composer, and Principal Viola for the
Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.

David Hamilton (*1955) was, until the end of 2001, Head of Music at Epsom Girls Grammar School (Auckland).
He has been Deputy Music Director of Auckland Choral (1996-2011). During 1999 he was Composer-in-Residence with the
Auckland Philharmonia, and took a second year�s leave from school in 2000 to pursue a number of composition projects.
In addition to being a composer, he is well-known as a choral conductor, workshop leader and clinician. He has had works
commissioned by major orchestras, instrumental groups and choirs throughout New Zealand.

All music on this album is in a highly approachable neo-romantic idiom.



Music by [see above]
Played by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
With Alexa Still (flute)
Conducted by James Sedares

"A New Zealander, Alexa�s graduate study was in New York (SUNY Stony Brook) where she also won competitions
including the New York Flute Club Young Artist Competition, and, East and West Artists Competition. Alexa then won
principal flute of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra at the age of 23. While home, she received a Churchill
Fellowship and a Fulbright award. In 1998, she left the NZSO to become Associate Professor of Flute at University
of Colorado at Boulder. She then moved to Sydney in 2006, where she became Professor of Flute and Director of
Performance research at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She began in her new position at Oberlin
Conservatory, USA, in 2011.

Alexa has also served her profession as President of the National Flute Association (USA), and regularly contributes
articles to flute journals across the globe. She plays a silver flute made for her by Brannen Brothers of Boston
with gold or wooden headjoints by Sanford Drelinger of White Plains, New York. When her flute is in its case,
Alexa is an avid motorcyclist, and she shares a daughter and two dogs with her husband."





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No.545
Modern: Tonal/Neo-Romantic

By the time Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu (1890 -1959) wrote his Rhapsody-Concerto for Viola and Orchestra he
had made a decision to stop emulating the texture and approach of the Baroque concerto grosso and write a work more in the spirit
of the typical Romantic concerto. One of the reasons for this seems to have been that he was feeling homesick for Czechoslovakia.
From 1923 to 1938 he had remained away from his homeland in favor of living and working in the lively artistic atmosphere of Paris,
where he embraced the neo-classical ideal. He had just about decided to move home in 1938 when the Nazi German occupation
began. After the war another exploratory trip to Prague had come to nothing when the Soviet-backed Communist party took full
power in 1948. Unlike the Nazi occupation, which Martinu could envision ending as soon as Germany went to war with the Allies,
there was now no prospect for liberation. Unlike his prior concerto-grosso-like works, where even single soloists tended to intertwine
with equally important orchestral strands in neo-classical polyphony, this is a work where the soloist is clearly the protagonist,
playing in contrast to the orchestra, if not in full opposition to it, as is often the case in Romantic concertos. (It is perhaps
because Martinu was not ready to write a concerto in such a "heroic" mood that he chose as soloist the viola, one of the
instruments considered the least assertive. The textures are, however, that of a regular concerto, not a concerto grosso.
Martinu's regular polyphony is de-emphasized. Being a bit unfair to his early music, Martinu wrote that now he was ready
to move "from geometry back to fantasy."

Kenichiro Kobayashi (小林 研一郎, *1940) is a Japanese conductor and composer. Born in Iwaki, Fukushima, Kobayashi's
father was a high school music teacher, and mother was a primary school teacher. Kobayashi started composing music
at the age of 11, studied composition and conducting under Mareo Ishiketa (composition), Kazuo Yamada (conducting),
and Akeo Watanabe (conducting) at Tokyo University of the Arts. Kobayashi won the 1st prize and the special award at
the International Conductors Competition on Hungarian television in 1974. He has led orchestras in Germany, Austria,
Britain, and Netherlands. Kobayashi has been resident conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and
Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. Kobayashi was appointed to the principal conductor of Japan Philharmonic Orchestra (1988–90),
chief conductor (1990–94, 1997–2004), music director (2004–07) and conductor laureate since 2010.
His Violin Concerto No.1 of 1978 fuses Japanese and Western forms, each movement being based on
a poem. The musical language is highly accessible for Western listeners.



Music by Bohuslav Martinu & Kenichiro Kobayashi
Played by the Slovak Radio Symphony & Bratislava Chamber Orchestras
With Viktor Simcisko (violin) & Milan Telecky (viola)
Conducted by Vlastimil Horak, Ondrej Len�rd & Otakar Trhlik

"This disc, made up of tapes from the archive of Slovak Radio, Bratislava, features the Leader and Principal Viola of
the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra in music by Martinu and Kenichiro Kobayashi. Together, they are the soloists
in Martinu's delightful early Divertimento, composed in 1932 when he was a pupil of Roussel in Paris. Written for a
small orchestra, it's almost Mozartian in its style and spirit. Then, Viktor Simcisko gives a splendid performance of
the Violin Concerto No. 1 by the 62-year-old Japanese composer, Kobayashi. It's an attempt to fuse the idioms of
Japanese and Western music and each movement is inspired by an ancient Japanese poem. The first is nocturnal,
the second elegiac and the last toccata-like with interruptions from the timpani—the poem being a description of
warships setting out to sea.

The major work on the disc is Martinu's Rhapsody-Concerto for viola and orchestra, a piece I learned to love from
the performance by Rivka Golani and the Berne Symphony Orchestra (Conifer). With Golani's warm tone and the
smooth playing of the orchestra, they rightly gave the work a reflective and autumnal quality—it was after all
composed in America at the time when Martinu realized that he would never see his beloved Czechoslovakia again.
Yet the Slovak Radio orchestra, with a brisker tempo in the first movement and in the coda of the second, bring
to the work more rhythmic excitement, and they have a better feel for the textures. This is partly due to the
Slovak balance, which brings out more details of the orchestration than does the Conifer. Finally, once you
have accustomed yourself to Milan Telecky's wiry viola tone and got past his first entry, his performance
becomes very acceptable.'"
Gramophone





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No.546
Modern: Neo-Classical

Bohuslav Martinu's exceptional Concerto for Piano Trio and Strings was utterly lost and forgotten for 30 years when
its posthumous premiere revealed it as a missing masterpiece by one of the most individual and important composers of the
twentieth century. Its style is the spicy, polytonal modernism of Paris in the '20s and '30s, along with a full measure of neo-
Baroque elements. Martinu (born in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, in 1890, and died in Basel in 1959) wrote this concerto
in the tenth year of his residence in Paris. This triple concerto blends all the elements that had mixed in his music during that
decade. The music is securely tonal; it would be years before Paris embraced the atonal and serial experiments of the Viennese
composers of the day. Martinu quickly wrote this concerto once he received a commission for a concerto from the Hungarian Trio.
He completed the full score on time, but was unable to find the manuscript to deliver it as agreed. The Hungarian Trio accepted
his request to let him write a work to substitute. Martinu wrote it in just 11 days. It was in the same key and the same basic
four-movement layout as the concerto. These facts led some researchers to believe that when Martinu wrote of his "concertino"
and his "concerto," he was referring to the same work. The concertino's score eventually made its way to the Martinu archives
in his hometown of Policka. After musicologist Harry Halbreich studied the original score there, Martinu's widow got in touch
with him in 1962 and said she had discovered another work in her husband's effects. Halbreich determined that it was another
concerted work for trio and string orchestra and arranged its premiere by the Festival String Lucerne under Rudolf Baumgartner
in 1963. It was acclaimed as one of Martinu's strongest works from the highly polyphonic, chamber orchestra-oriented years in
the early '30s. The four-movement work lasts 25 minutes. The opening Poco Allegro is muscular with strong, propulsive bass
lines. It only partly uses the concerto grosso form. By a good margin, the longest movement, the Andante, starts with a serious
but richly harmonized solo that is succeeded by a lonely variant of it for the two string soloists. The third movement, Scherzo,
Allegro, is a work in classic scherzo form with a trio middle section for the soloists alone and a literal repeat of the opening
section. The movement is full of the feeling of the Classical-era Scherzo, but its sound is anything but. Shifting accents and
other rhythmic tricks make it firmly twentieth century. The finale, Moderato, poco allegro, does begin a bit like a crib from
one of the Brandenburg Concerto and there is more tendency to use the trio as a separate group. Canons and other
contrapuntal devices abound, but still keep the tart harmonies of the polytonal era.

Unusually, Martinu wrote two pieces in the same unusual genre during the same year. The explanation comes from his
somewhat untidy habits and absent-minded character. A chamber ensemble called the Hungarian Trio (violin, cello, and
piano) engaged him to write a work for the group to play as a concerto with an orchestra. They approached him at the
beginning of 1933, asking for the work to be ready for an Easter premiere - but it wasn't finished on time. Always
the pragmatist, Martinu quickly contrived a shorter work, the Concertino for Piano Trio and Strings. Martinu
made the concertino about five minutes shorter (18 in all) and used a simpler texture than the concerto. Martinu
relied more on his excellent (and highly characteristic) melodic sense, less on complex motivic interrelationships
and development. The result is one of his freshest, clearest neo-Baroque pieces. All the four movements are
concise, especially the rapid outer ones.



Music Composed by Bohuslav Martinu
Played by the Georgisches Kammerorchester Ingolstadt
With The Storioni Trio
Conducted by Ruben Gazarian

"I very much enjoyed conductor Rubin Gazarian's Tchaikovsky disc (Serenade for Strings and Souvenir de Florence).
I enjoyed his "Simply Strings" compilation with the same forces slightly less. Both were superbly recorded by Bayer
Records on SACD. For his latest disc, he is recorded by ARS and utilizes a different group, a small ensemble,
Georgisches Kammerorchester Ingolstadt. It sounds leaner and brighter than did the previous ensemble. The clean,
bold, brightly lit and slightly forward ARS recording is likely as much responsible for this as the players themselves.

As for the music, this is Martinu in an almost aggressive mood, at his most spiky. There is very little French warmth
here - and perhaps that's exactly what this music demands. I was not familiar with either concertante piece (for
piano trio and string orchestra). Neither is a masterpiece. I enjoyed the Partita Suite #1 rather more. A larger string
orchestra would have benefited all of this music. The contrast between the solo violin and cello in the the triple
concertos is greatly minimized since the contrasting "full ensemble" is so small and meager. It all sounds rather
like angry chamber music, which I'm not sure is was what Martinu intended.

This group sounds as if each member is playing soloistically, projecting their tone as in a concerto rather than
blending into the ensemble. This, along with the bold, bright recording, adds to the aggressiveness here.
All of the performers are excellent and I enjoyed listening to this disc."
Amazon Reviewer





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No.547
Modern: Neo-Classical

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Concerto for Guitars and Orchestra makes enormous demands on the performers, no least because
of the fragile sounds of the soloists when pitted against the full orchestra. He uses the solo instruments extremely skilfully.
The first movement forms a lively overture, the second is a meditative interlude, while the third develops into a fiery
Mexican fiesta. The Sonata Canonica, as indicated by the title, is composed in the form of a canon, with the soloists
constantly imitating each other. As so often in this composer's oeuvre, the finale draws its inspiration from folk music.

Joaqu�n Rodrigo began this two-guitar concerto in 1966, intending it for the husband-and-wife duo of Alexandre Lagoya
and Ida Presti. The 1970 premiere, however, fell to Pepe and Angel Romero, who recorded it several years later. More a suite
than a traditional concerto, the Concierto madrigal falls into ten brief movements, many of them based on the anonymous
Renaissance madrigal "Felices ojos mios" (Happy Eyes of Mine). The composer wrote that "the element that sustains [the work]
is the variation. Each of the variations or episodes is indicated by the title, which gives a clue to its atmosphere or scenario, a
delicate poetic sketching that imbues the whole score. At times, because of the origin of the theme, the episodes have a modal
or archaic character; at other times, the melody that acts as a thread through the whole work is permeated by a much more
popular feeling."



Music by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco & Joaqu�n Rodrigo
Played by the Capella Cracoviensis
With the Duo Tedesco
Conducted by Roland Bader





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No.548
Modern: Jazz/Neo-Romantic

The versatile guitarist and composer Walter Abt (*1953) is remarkable for his flair and the delight he takes in discovering
unusual and innovative musical avenues. His outlook was largely shaped by his collaborations with jazz and gipsy musicians.
His performance repertoire and discography have earned him numerous awards and cover a broad spectrum ranging from
Spanish and Italian Renaissance music and the classical guitar repertoire to flamenco and contemporary Latin American
guitar music (viz. his pioneer records of Leo Brouwer�s music, sometimes with Brouwer himself, - or playing with the
incomparable clarinet player Giora Feidman). Alongside his career as a soloist, Walter Abt is much in demand as a
composer and arranger. His Concerto del Benaco owes its origin to a commission by the Italian province of Trentino,
the area at the northern end of Lake Garda where Abt has chosen to live. Walter Abt was founder and leader of the Munich
Guitar Orchestra and of the flamenco ensemble SOL Y SOMBRA, and was the founder and director of the summer school
for guitarists which he set up at the Bavarian Academy of Music. He likes to surprise his audience with musical crests
between classical music, jazz and worldmusic -as well as with ancient instruments like lute or vihuela.



Music by Walter Abt & Joaqu�n Rodrigo
Played by the Virtuosi di Praga
With Walter Abt (guitar)
Conducted by Gianfranco Grisi

https://s13.postimg.org/vjjad256f/abt.gif



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Thank you for the Stock (No. 426) links, wimpel.

No.549
Modern: Avantgarde

Armenian composer Yuri Ter-Osipov was born in Kirovabad on November 4, 1933. He graduated from
the Hajibeyov Conservatory of Azerbaijan (1958) in the composition class of Kara Karayev, and in the
class for children's compositions of Boris Zeydman. He then taught at a music school and then the
Institute of Arts in Dushanbe, Tajikistan (1958�74) where he taught a whole pleiad of Tajik composers.
He died in Moscow on November 16, 1986.

Very little can be found about this composer on the web. The above short biographical
info was in fact the *only* thing I could find.



Music Composed by Yuri Ter-Osipov
Played by the USSR Goskino State Symphony & Moscow Philharmonic Orchestras
With Alexey Mikhlin (violin) & Valentin Feigin (cello)
And Larisa Tedtoeva (mezzo-soprano)
Conducted by Emin Khachaturyan, Gennady Provotorov & Dmitri Kitajenko



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No.550
Modern: Neo-Classicism/Tonal

Henri Tomasi (1901-1971) was a French composer; his music is tonal, attractive, and a little exotic. His Trombone Concerto was
written in 1956. A sixteen-minute piece in three movements, it is a very French work in its elegance and its propensity to echo the tones of
popular and street music. The first movement, at nearly half the length of the concerto, begins with a self-important, even grandiose,
statement by the trombone. But this soon yields to sounds of French Impressionism, soft, alluring, and colorful. The movement ends with
a waltz theme, like an older French salon orchestra. The second movement gives the trombone a lyrical, nocturnal theme over an
accompaniment based on an ostinato. This rises to powerful statement from the trombone, but before the movement ends it has
subsided to a quiet theme with a hint of blues. Themes from the first two movements provide the subjects of the final movement,
but they are transformed by South American rhythms. The composer named the movement a "tambourin," an older French form of
fast dance-piece, that pushes the trombone into a virtuosic ending.

Italian composer and conductor Bruno Maderna (1920-1973) was one of the pre-eminent figures in contemporary European
music in the mid-twentieth century. Born in Venice, Maderna was a child prodigy who played hot violin in a local combo and made
his conducting debut at La Scala at age 12. By 1935 the course of Maderna's career was redirected by Italian fascists, who sent the
talented child out to tour the capitals of Europe as a symbol of the superiority of the fascist order. By the age of 20 Bruno Maderna
had already earned his degree in composition from the Conservatory of Rome and returned to Venice to continue under composer
Gian Francesco Malipiero. Under Malipiero, Maderna began to master the complexities of serial composition.

In 1948 Maderna took a conducting class with legendary maestro Hermann Scherchen and through him probably got to know
Wolfgang Steinecke, the founder of the Darmstadt Festival. Maderna had already met composer Luigi Nono at Ricordi, and would
meet Luciano Berio in Milan after leaving the Venice Conservatory in 1952. Steinecke engaged Maderna as a conductor at the
Darmstadt Festival, a post that made Maderna a celebrity in postwar European avant-garde and one that he would hold until the
end of his days.

His half-hour Grande Aulodia is a kind of double concerto for flute, oboe and orchestra. Far more harmonically advanced
than the other two works on this album, it is nevertheless an atmospheric, approachable work cast in a single, continuous movement.



Music by Henri Tomasi, Ottorino Respighi & Bruno Maderna
Played by the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI
With Andrea Lucchi (trombone) & Roberto Ranfaldi (violin)
And Alberto Barletta (flute) & Francesco Pomarico (oboe)
Conducted by Enrique Mazzola, Christoph Eberle & Claire Gibault





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No.551
Late Romantic/Modern: Tonal

A generous and impressively performed selection of British works for viola and orchestra, with
the very substantial concertos by Wiliam Walton (in its revised 1962 version) and York Bowen at the center.
Helen Callus plays extremely(!) well in the Walton, rivalling even the best recordings of this oft-played concerto.
In the Bowen, the otherwise splendid account is marred by what seems to be a cut in the finale.

Ralph Vaughan Williams never composed a viola concerto proper, and his Suite for Viola and Small Orchestra
(of which Callus records only the fist half here) is a charming and graceful, but lightweight piece. On the other hand,
the Howells' Elegy is a major find - a serene and well-argued piece that rises from a lyrical beginning to
a highly emotional climax (well, for an English composer anyway). It reminds me of Gustav Holst's wonderful Lyric Movement.



Music by [see above]
Played by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
With Helen Callus (viola)
Conducted by Marc Taddei

"Helen Callus, British-born but based in America, plays with sumptuous tone matched by flawless intonation to give
the most beautiful account I have ever heard of the Walton Concerto. CALLUS brings out the warmth of Walton's lyricism,
one memorable theme after another, and finds a rare mystery in the pianissimo passages, above all in the haunting
epilogue. Marc Taddei draws playing from the New Zealand orchestra that is warm in the lyricism and incisive in
Walton's characteristic syncopations.

The coupled works are all valuable. The Vaughan Williams Suite, a rarity, has three brief movements, two in characteristic
pastoral vein followed by a vigorous finale. Then comes a most beautiful account of the Howells Elegy, orchestra members
making up the string quartet set against the solo viola. Lawrence Power (Hyperion, 7/05) alerted us to the abundant
lyricism of York Bowen's Concerto. Callus is just as impressive, playing with a very wide dynamic range. The snag is
what seems to be a substantial cut in the brilliant finale. Power's main Allegro takes eight minutes before the big cadenza
enters (allegedly the work of Tertis) but the Callus version lasts barely four minutes before she begins her own reflective,
impressive cadenza. I assume a cut was necessary to fit the CD running time. A pity nonetheless."
Gramophone



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Thank you very much, wimpel69! Great thread!

Received the Erkin links (No. 442). Many thanks, wimpel.

No.552
Modern: Tonal

Walter Ross, whose works have been performed in over 40 countries, is perhaps best known for his
compositions featuring brass and woodwinds. Raised in Nebraska, he became a professional orchestral
French horn player by the age of seventeen. Ross has received a number of awards and prizes and many
significant grants and fellowships. His work is widely performed, and many of his compositions have
been published and recorded. Currently a resident of Charlottesville, Virginia, he has served as
president of the Southeastern Composers League and served as a judge at international composition
symposia. He has been a visiting composer at the Aspen Music Festival and a featured composer at
several universities and forums and on national and international radio broadcasts, and a member
of the board of the Capital Composers Alliance.



Music Composed by Walter Ross
Played by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra
With M. Turner (flute) & Radka Kubrova (guitar)
And Michal Sint�l (oboe d'amore) & Ramon Mesina (bassoon)
And Igor F�bera (oboe) & Adriana Antalova (harp)
Conducted by Kirk Trevor

"He was taught composition by Robert Beadell and later studied at Cornell with Robert Palmer - we need to hear his
Piano Quintet. Karel Husa was also his teacher as was Ginastera. He has had two residencies at the MacDowell Colony.
Ross founded the Charlottesville University and Community Orchestra and was its conductor for two years. His choral
works include Lux Aeterna to honour the victims of 9/11. This has been performed at Ground Zero. He has a real
predilection for concertos of which his roster includes ones for clarinet, trombone, tuba, double bass and violin.

The present concerto collection serves to assure us that if he can be placed in any school he is a tonal, life-enhancing
and dynamic lyricist. Add to this an evidently fine ear for timbres, instrumental meld and rhythmic strata.

The Concerto for Flute and Guitar is a carefree piece, able to draw on the sort of stirring pulse you find in a Walton
march or a Copland hoe-down. He sets time aside for pastoral musing in the work’s Adagio con elegiaca.

The Oboe d'Amore Concerto was written for Jennifer Paul, whose Amoris imprint helps revive the fortunes of this
rather marginalised instrument. The music is in a smooth, leafy-tonal idiom. It might almost be a marriage of RVW 's
Oboe Concerto and The Lark Ascending. There is an especially poignant Andante amabile and a toe-tapping and
entwining Adagio animato.

The Bassoon Concerto again displays his gift for fast-paced attractive writing both for orchestra and soloist.
In the Adagio pastorale he does what it says on the can and treads that the line between evolutionary languor
and forward motion. The racing finale again reminds us that Ross might perhaps also have been influenced by
that master of the compact concerto, Malcolm Arnold.

We start [No, we don't!] with a poetic yet lively Double concerto and we also end with one. This one is for oboe,
harp and strings. It kicks the trend by starting with a warmly hazy Lento carezzando which again suggests
Anglophile sympathies. The fast pattering mercury-winged Festivo again had me thinking of Arnold. We end with
an Adagio patetica e Impetuoso. The first element of the finale provides an enchanting symmetry with the first
movement. Those dreamy horizons and heat-hazed fields at times give way to the devil-may-care quick-time
serenading of the two solo instruments.

The insert booklet is pretty good but what a shame about the lack of dates for these works, though this
information can be found on this website.

Ross's music is well worth seeking out especially if you have a taste for new intelligent melodic-dynamic music. "
Musicweb





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thank you for this Ginastera

---------- Post added at 08:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:11 PM ----------

and thank you very very much for Darius Milhaud: Violin Concertos.

Many many thanks

Thank you so much for the Richard Harvey

Fantastic

No.553
Modern: Tonal/Jazz

The first recording in our cpo SYMPHONIC JAZZ SERIES with the WDR Radio Orchestra of Cologne is entitled American Connection.
Concertos for jazz clarinet by Jorge Calandrelli, Daniel Freiberg, and Jeff Beal are heard in performances with the world-
famous clarinetist Andy Miles. Andy Miles is one of the youngest representatives of a guild whose members received posts as solo
clarinetists in German orchestras (in his case with the Hamburg Philharmonic). Later he made his way to Cologne as the principal
clarinetist of the WDR Radio Orchestra. Thanks to his �wild past� as a saxophonist in rock bands, a tin whistler in folk bands, and
a clarinetist in various jazz bands, Miles is able to exercise his activity in many musical fields. He numbers among the few genuine
crossover musicians who succeed in mediating between classical and jazz music because they feel at home in both of them. The press has
called him �the Marco Polo of the Clarinet.� It should also be mentioned that the famous Alan Silverman was in charge of an additional
mastering of our recording in the United States. Alan has worked for artists like Norah Jones, Chaka Khan, The Rings, Dolly Parton,
and Keith Richards and received more than fifty Grammy Awards. His Art! Mastering, one of the largest and best-equipped mastering
studios in New York City, offers first-class analogue and digital outboard equipment and an excellent monitoring system.



Music Composed by Jorge Calandrelli, Daniel Freiberg & Jeff Beal
Played by the WDR Funkhausorchester K�ln
With Andy Miles (clarinet)
Conducted by Wayne Marshall & Rasmus Baumann



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Many thanks

No.554
Modern: Tonal

Works for cello and orchestra by Brazilian composer Camargo Guarnieri and Mexican composer Federico Ibarra,
the complete production for cello by Carlos Ch�vez, an allegro from his unfinished Cello Concerto (an absolute
world premiere), as well as his Madrigal and his Sonatina for cello and piano . As always, accompanied
by Edison Quintana at the piano.

In this CD Carlos Prieto teams-up for the first time with his son, young Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto
conducting the Orquesta de las Am�ricas.



Music by Mozart Camargo Guarnieri, Federico Ibarra & Carlos Ch�vez
Played by the Orquesta de las Am�ricas
With Carlos Prieto (cello) & Edison Quintana (piano)
Conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto

"Carlos Prieto, generally regarded the foremost Mexican cellist of his generation, has led an illustrious career, dazzling critics
and audiences across the globe, premiering more than 80 works, and developing close relationships with Stravinsky and
Shostakovich. A true Renaissance man, he is also the author of seven books, holds degrees in engineering and economics
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is the recipient of countless awards from governments, arts organizations,
and universities. While his repertory is very broad, from J.S. Bach to Shostakovich and contemporaries, Prieto has made a
special effort to advance the cello compositions of Spanish and Latin American composers, having devoted hundreds of
concerts and 11 CDs to their works. Prieto's numerous recordings are available from Urtext Digital Classics and PMG Classics.

Carlos Prieto was born in Mexico City in 1937. At four he began playing the cello. His teachers would include Imre Hartman,
Pierre Fournier (National Conservatory in Geneva), and Leonard Rose (New York City). Prieto also had studies in Russia,
where he befriended Shostakovich and, in 1962, accompanied Stravinsky in Moscow when the composer traveled to Russia
for a concert tour.

In the early '60s, Prieto introduced Shostakovich's 1959 First Cello Concerto in Mexico and Spain. Gradually Prieto built his
career and from about 1980 began premiering new works for cello, many of which were written specifically for him by Latin
American and Spanish composers. By the turn of the century Prieto was among the foremost musicians to champion
contemporary music. He gave high-profile premieres to Eugenio Toussaint's Second Cello Concerto (1999), Roberto Sierra's
Cello Concerto (1999), and Arturo Marquez's Concerto (2000), all of which he recorded to great acclaim for the Urtext label.

After receiving a string of distinguished awards and citations, Prieto was given the Order of Civil Merit by King Juan Carlos
of Spain in 2006, and the following year was awarded the National Prize for the Arts by Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
Among the more popular of Prieto's six books are his 2006 The Adventures of a Cello, which has been translated into
English, Russian, and Portuguese, and the 2008 Throughout China with the Cello.

Prieto's more acclaimed recordings include the 2006 Urtext CD of the Shostakovich sonatas for Cello and Piano, Op. 40,
and Viola and Piano, Op. 147 (transcribed for cello by Prieto). Prieto often performs and records with his son, Carlos
Miguel Prieto, renowned conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico."





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No.555
Modern: Neo-Classical

Harald Genzmer (1909-2007) was a composition pupil of Paul Hindemith in Berlin from 1928 to 1934. Whoever studies Genzmer�s enormous
oeuvre in detail will recognize in the pupil�s music many Romantic gestures and a sensual imagination rarely occurring in
the teacher�s works. What Genzmer adopted from his mentor was the masterly craftsmanship, an awareness of classicism and form
and joy in performing in itself and in the colours of the most differing instruments. The broadly educated scion of an academic
family never regarded himself as a genius transcending boundaries, but as the servant of performers and the public: �Music
should be zestful, artful and comprehensible. As practicable, it may win over the interpreter, and then the listener as
graspable�. Musicians have always enjoyed performing Genzmer�s inspired music, which is affectionally adapted to the most
varied instrumentations, and are now continuing to do so in increasing measure.



Music Composed by Harald Genzmer
Played by the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
With Oliver Triendl (piano) & Patrick Demenga (cello)
And J�rgen Van Rijen (trombone)
Conducted by Ariane Matiakh





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No.556
Modern: Tonal

South African-born Malcolm Forsyth became one of the more prominent
Canadian composers from the latter 20th century. He composed mostly in an
accessible style, though he acknowledged another more academic side to his
works. His music often employed folk elements from South Africa, as in
Sketches from Natal (1970) and the First Symphony (1972). After relocating
to Canada in 1968, he began absorbing North American folk styles, noticeable
in such works as Atayoskewin (1984) and in his arrangement, Three M�tis
Songs from Saskatchewan (1975-1976). Stylistically he often exhibited dreamy
and exotic moods, as in his cello concerto, Electra Rising (1995), but he
was rhythmic and jazzy in such compositions as Tre Vie, for alto saxophone
and orchestra (1992). His output includes concertos and orchestral works,
chamber music, songs and choral music. Some of Forsyth's works, like his
Piano Concerto (1974; rev. 1985) and Trumpet Concerto (1987), are gaining
notice in the concert hall, and numerous Forsyth compositions are available
on disc, many on the CBC label.

Malcolm Forsyth was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, on December 8,
1936. In his childhood he studied piano, and later took up trombone and
flute. From 1963, he studied trombone at Cape Town University, where he
stayed on to earn advanced degrees in composition and conducting. His
teachers included South-African born composer Stanley Glasser and conductor
Georg Tintner.

From 1960-1967, Forsyth played trombone in the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra.
Jubilee Overture, for orchestra (1964), is among his most significant
works from this period. After his 1968 move to Canada, Forsyth joined the
faculty at the University of Alberta. He also played trombone in the
Edmonton Symphony Orchestra from 1968, serving as principal until 1980.
In addition, he played in various studio orchestras and brass ensembles
during this period. Meanwhile, he turned out as his Aphorisms for Brass
(1971) and Symphony No. 2 (1976). He also increasingly turned to conducting,
leading the University of Alberta St. Cecilia Orchestra from 1977-1986
and the university's orchestra from 1991-2002.

Forsyth's 1995 Electra Rising: Concerto for cello and orchestra was
written for his daughter, Amanda Forsyth, who premiered the work with the
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and later recorded it with the Edmonton
Symphony for the CBC label. In 2002 Forsyth retired from teaching, and
the following year was given membership to the Order of Canada. Among his
later large works was the 2001 Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra. He
completed and saw the premiere of a final work, A Ballad for Canada,
despite suffering from pancreatic cancer.



Music Composed by Malcolm Forsyth
Played by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
With Amanda Forsyth (cello) & William Street (alto sax)
Conducted by Grzegorz Nowak

"The most eloquent work on the program (and, happily, the most recent - 1995) is the cello concerto, "Electra Rising," written for
the composer's daughter, Amanda. A mere recital of the movement titles - "Cadenza. With gossamer lightness," "Mayibuye Afrika!
Scherzo-like; strictly rhythmic," "Cadenza. Dramatic," and "Paean. Hymn-like; radiant" - reveals Forsyth's idiosyncratic mind. With
the first movement in particular, one faces with the composer the challenge of a ten-minute "cadenza" - actually, an accompanied
cadenza, much like a similar passage in Elgar's violin concerto - a freely rhythmic song in the solo instrument against mainly a
background of chords. This could easily degenerate into aural soup or the equivalent of nattering, but there really is a symphonic
argument here which the listener can follow without strain. It's also intensely beautiful. The second movement is polyrhythmic
counterpoint in mixed meters. It may also be that individual instruments could be in different meters - for example, 3/4 + 7/8 in
one line and 2/4+5/8+2/4 in another simultaneous line. The opening orchestration evokes for me the sound of the African thumb
piano, although one of symphonic size. Exuberant, the movement celebrates the end of apartheid in Forsyth's birthplace of South
Africa. I catch snatches of African tribal dancing as well.

The second "cadenza" movement somewhat reverses the first. This time the orchestra material mostly takes up the thematic
argument, while the cellist explores all the way the instrument can make chords - strumming, plucking, bowing, arpeggiating,
and so on. Although half the length of the first movement, this cadenza runs the same artistic risk. Yet it comes across as lyrical,
rather than contrived, even though it lacks a "hummable" tune. The finale is essentially another slow movement (the concerto
has three altogether), but this time the soloist gets to sing in the way we associate with the instrument. The composer's indication
"radiant" hits the mark of the music's character.

The composer's daughter and inspiration takes up the solo part, and, far from being Daddy's Little Indulgence, she's probably
one of the most distinguished string players I've heard. A cellist friend of mine once divided cellists into two camps: roughly
Casals vs. Feuermann or Rostropovich vs. Starker - a big tone as opposed to a clear one. I tend to favor the Feuermann,
Fournier, and Starker camp, and Amanda Forsyth belongs there. A student of, among others, William Pleeth, she has mastered
color, dynamics, and phrasing and has a grasp of musical architecture few players achieve in a lifetime. She's still in her
thirties. I wish her a great career.

Valley of a Thousand Hills, a three-movement evocation of South African landscape and culture, lightens up emotionally.
I've not seen South Africa, so I'm not sure what pictures, if any, the music should bring forth. The most conventionally
descriptive movement is the second, "Mkambathini," the Zulu name for Table Mountain. The music puts it off in the distance
or surrounded by mist. More than that, however, the three movements are all technically "about" ostinato and orchestration.
Despite that description, this isn't minimalist music. It lacks the expanded time-sense of most minimalist work. Development
happens within "normal" time frames. Nevertheless, Forsyth risks stasis with his ostinati, although he always knows when
to move on. Furthermore, he uses the patterns to create something new and expressive. For example, the striking opening
of the first movement, "Horizons," builds the music before your very ears, as the main theme looms out of wispy fragments
and becomes a buoyant dance. Forsyth also constructs a nifty transition between the second and third movements, the latter
called "Village Dance." Here we get Crestonian cross-rhythms in unusual meters (according to the liner notes, 17/8).
Forsyth scores so clearly that we actually hear each contributing strand to the polyrhythm. Nowak and the Edmonton
Symphony do a very good job with these.

The saxophone concerto is also a bit of an odd duck. Conceived in three movements, each inspired by one of the Roman
highways (Appian, Flaminian, and Salarian), it wound up with four. During its composition, Messiaen died, and Forsyth
wrote a second-movement homage. Forsyth's music isn't particularly Messiaenic, but perhaps Forsyth simply wanted to
acknowledge the passing of an influential figure, one who touched the musical thinking of so many after the Second
World War."
Classical Net



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Many thanks, dear wimpel69. for all your nice music.
Regards...

No.557
Modern: Neo-Classical

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Piano Concerto No.1 was written in a spirit of optimism and ebullience in 1927 when the composer was 32
years old. The opening movement, Allegro giusto, is both lyrical and virtuosic. Its good humoured vigour takes us directly to the vivid romantic
heart of Italian lyrical traditions. After an orchestral introduction the piano enters with bravura chords leading to a short interlude. Piano and
orchestra then join forces in an extended musical dialogue full of exquisite tunes and elegant flourishes. One delightful moment to cherish is a
short cello entry so characteristic of the composer. The development is full of instrumental colour as the piano trips along with insistent rhythms
and deft interplay with the orchestra. The recapitulation contains a few surprises not least of which is the witty, almost informal, ending.
The indication of the slow movement, Andantino alla romanza, clearly establishes its romantic credentials, and here the young Castelnuovo-
Tedesco exercises his imagination in a gently introspective mood. The central focus of the Andantino is a lyrical piano theme which develops
slightly darker shades of feeling as the work progresses. The final part quickens its tempo to greater urgency and dramatic intensity with
short cadenza passages and subtle orchestral atmospherics. The slow movement then leads directly to the concluding Vivo e festoso, a joyous
celebration initially reminiscent of the whirling dance of the Tarantella. A middle section offers a more thoughtful mood until, with a steady
raising of the temperature, the music resumes its former energetic momentum in ever increasing excitement.

Of Piano Concerto No.2, written between 1936 and 1937, the pianist Alessandro Marangoni has commented that the original score
was probably lost during the 1966 flood of the River Arno in Florence. The composer, however, had deposited a manuscript of the work
in the Library of Congress, Washington DC. It is a distinctly different work from its predecessor written a decade earlier. The first movement,
Vivace e brillante, begins with an orchestral statement of great directness and purpose before the pianoʼs entrance in brilliant passages
against the orchestra, followed by a short cadenza. The integration of the concerto elements is more controlled here with the orchestral
writing being tighter and more dramatic against the enhanced virtuosity of the piano.



Music Composed by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Played by the Neubrandenburgische Philharmonie
With Peitro Massa (piano)
Conducted by Stefan Malzew

"All of the works on the current recording, save one�the Hommage � Paderewski �were written before the composer
left Europe. They are all pleasing to listen to, all idiomatically written for the instrument, and all unashamedly tonally inspired.
The two larger works, the piano concertos Nos. 1 and 2, were written at far different times in the composer�s career�the
First when he was rising to prominence, the Second when he was preparing to flee his homeland�yet both maintain a similar
construction and disposition, the latter of the two, perhaps having a bit more originality, a slightly more elaborate orchestration,
and above all else, more of a sense of urgency. The work feels more personal. Both the pianist and the orchestra handle the
scores well. The readings are spirited and highly polished, the pianist managing all of the difficulties of this music, from the
sprightly and light-hearted scale patterns and arpeggios to the trickier rhythmic idiosyncrasies. The lyrical middle movements
contrast well with the weightier (though not much) first movements. Each concerto ends with a dance-like finale.
The Neubrandenburger Philharmonie players accompany beautifully under the direction of Stefan Malzew, himself an
accomplished clarinetist and composer. The second disc of the set is devoted to some of the solo piano works of Castelnuovo-
Tedesco. Amazingly the numerous changes in texture, touch, and overall sonority lend these little works a colorful aura, an
almost orchestrated quality; that is surely their greatest asset and biggest challenge in performance. Throughout the recital
Massa proves himself a very fine guide to these neglected pieces. One of the highlights of the disc is the somewhat percussive
and rhythmic Le danze di Re David , a set of seven dances which are inspired by the composer�s own Jewish heritage; the
movements contrast well with each other, yet all fit together through the use of the common D repeated-note motive.
Though there are times when I wish that Massa would stress the rhythmic quality over the lyrical ones, such as in the
last dance, the Allegro guerrico , in general he characterizes the individual movements well. Equally fascinating is the
Passatempi , a set of five small waltzes in various styles. They range the gamut from the quirky second to the fifth,
a livelier 20th-century parody of a Viennese waltz.

For those looking for less well-known compositions of the 20th century, intriguing works without a bit of listening
discomfort then this music would suit one well. There is much great music here, not least the two fascinating
neoclassical concertos. In top quality sound, resonant enough to capture the numerous changes in sonority in the
solo literature, and without audience noise in the concertos, which were taped live in the Konzertkirche
Neubrandenburg on November 11, 2010, and with top-notch performances all around, there is little to discourage
one from acquiring this set. If the early 20th century is your time period, then this music is a must."
Fanfare





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Thank you for this. I already own one recording of the concertos, but am looking forward to trying out the solo piano works. Happy Holidays, wimpel69... scott

No.558
Modern: Tonal

Dale W. Underwood is professor at the Frost School of Music. An active performer for nearly five decades, Underwood
has developed a worldrenowned reputation as a phenomenal saxophone soloist and a teacher. Hailing from Cortland, NY,
Underwood began playing the saxophone at 9 years old. In high school, Underwood had the privilege of studying with
Donald Sinta, who was then professor of saxophone at nearby Ithaca College. Underwood entered the prestigious U.S.
Navy Concert band as second alto saxophonist in 1968 and was promoted to principal saxophonist and designated as a
tour soloist within 6 months. At age 20 on his first tour, Underwood was not only the youngest bandmember at the time,
but also one of the youngest tour soloists in the history of military.



Music by Radam�s Gnattali, Hudson Nogueira & Heitor Villa-Lobos
And by Edson Beltrami & Antonio Campos
Played by the Orquestra Sinf�nica Paulista
With Dale Underwood (saxophone)
Conducted by Dario Sotelo





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No.559
Modern: Avantgarde

"In the music of Lee Hyla (b. 1952), without exception, I have always felt that the jagged,
honking, barking, raucous, strongly articulated rhythmic layer patrols and protects an inner layer of
timeless, crystalline beauty, almost too fragile to survive on its own. His obsessive recycling of
material, subtly transformed over the course of the piece, rude interruptions, and unexpected glimpses
of an internal radiance all add to a sense of uneasy striving towards a kind of transcendent experience.

The three works on this disc-Concerto for Bass Clarinet and Orchestra (1988), Trans (1996), and the
Violin Concerto (2001)-are intelligent, but not intellectual. They are obvious siblings, though each
piece sustains its own strong character. Lee has chosen, in all of these works, to tell a tale, to work
within a musical space whose boundaries consist of wildly contrasting elements. Bluntly cut transitions
range from slow to fast, soft to loud, classic and contained to raucous rock-and-roll-with an almost bizarre
use of Beethovenian techniques exercised on poached riffs. The source materials diverge wildly, from The Art
Ensemble of Chicago to Alban Berg. While at first it may seem like putting mustard on ice cream, such use of
contrast maps out a large space and plants markers-very bright markers-at the boundaries. These are the
unforgettable flags, made indelible by their very contrast, that articulate a large musical space. Like
in many works of Beethoven, the material is tightly controlled, but the scope of the pieces is vast."



Music Composed by Lee Hyla
Played by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project
With Tim Smith (bass clarinet) & Laura Frautschi (violin)
Conducted by Gil Rose

"Lee Hyla writes in a tremendously compressed style in which shape and gesture stand in for conventional melody
despite an often clear tonal orientation. Rhythm also plays an important role in activating his musical textures and
maintaining linear transparency, and it�s clear from a cursory listen to any of these three works that Hyla writes with a
great deal of talent and confidence. The Concerto for Bass Clarinet and Orchestra begins sweetly with innocent murmurs,
but the soloist evidently has anger-management issues and spends much of the work�s 11 minutes wailing like a demented
saxophone. To Hyla�s credit, he never lets the violence run out of control, and the use of orchestral color in a linear context
(in other words, he�s much more a �line guy� than a �chord guy�) is often quite striking.

One of the more remarkable aspects of this work--as well as Trans, the three-movement orchestral piece that follows--is
that neither has recourse to percussion, so often a clich� in modern music. Trans achieves its compelling rhythmic propulsion
using normal strings, winds, and brass, and while its outer movements have something of the Bass Clarinet Concerto�s violent
demeanor, the contrasts are broader and the lines longer. Composed in 1996, eight years after the concerto, it shows Hyla�s
compositional range expanding to the point where in the Violin Concerto of 2001 we have what strikes me as a flat-out
masterpiece in the genre. In this single-movement, 24-minute work, an extensive percussion section makes its first
appearance, providing an effective foil to the predominantly lyrical lines of the soloist. There are exquisite moments here,
often reminiscent of the Berg Concerto but with a Stravinskian rhythmic energy cloaked in an abrupt musical syntax that�s
strongly recognizable as Hyla�s own. I can�t recommend it to you highly enough.

As far as the performances go, Tim Smith plays an awesome bass clarinet solo in what sounds like a hellishly difficult part.
Violin soloist Laura Frautschi certainly offers accuracy (which is itself an achievement), but her timbre, though sweet, is quite
small and the work seems to ask for a more generous emotional outpouring. In all three cases, Gil Rose and the Boston
Modern Orchestra Project rise bravely to the occasion, and no matter how disjointed the music becomes, they never make
an ugly sound or lose sight of where the music is going--and make no mistake, Hyla both knows where he wants to go and
how to get there. Excellently detailed, well balanced sonics round out a most welcome portrait of a fascinating composer
who could well become a major voice in contemporary music."
David Hurwitz, Classics Today





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No.560
Modern: Tonal

Marcus Blunt (*1947) is a well established British composer with an international voice � his harmonic language is
distinctive and varied; arising from the Romantic tradition but full of complex contrapuntal chromaticism � and also touched
by the mystic in subtle ways, perhaps more apparent in his solo piano music. These works are firmly in the modern mainstream
and deserve a wide audience; from the convoluted lines of the Piano Concerto, the restrained small orchestration of
the Symphony No.2 to the picturesque nature of the Bassoon Concertino, Blunt�s works retain an intense interest
for the listener. Murray McLachlan, one of the UK�s most celebrated pianists, has long championed Blunt�s work.
Lesley Wilson is one of Britain�s most seasoned bassoonists and the award-winning Manchester Camerata has
recently risen to the highest ranking among British chamber orchestra.



Music Composed by Marcus Blunt
Played by the Manchester Camerata
With Murray McLachlan (piano) & Lesley Wilson (bassoon)
Conducted by Stephen Threlfall

"This CD presents four works by British composer Marcus Blunt (b.1947), the longest of which is the 27-minute
Piano Concerto, ably performed by English pianist Murray McLachlan. Blunt describes the second movement Largo
as �tense, mysterious, subdued,� words I�d apply as well to the first and third movements, up until the concerto�s
surprisingly upbeat, triumphal final two minutes. Another word I�d use for this work is �ambiguous� � both in tonality
and emotion � creating not-unpleasant sensations of disquiet and suspended disequilibrium.

At just under seven minutes, Aspects of Saturn for string orchestra continues the ambiguity, as Blunt observes that
in astrology, the planet Saturn somehow represents the contradictory qualities of �self-discipline� and �ambition,�
�limitation� and �aspiration.� The music is similarly both disciplined and assertive.

The 11-minute, five-movement Concertino for Bassoon and String Orchestra, reshaping material from two of Blunt�s
earlier works, was written for and performed here by Lesley Wilson. Here again, constant major-minor shifts and
indefinite tonality create emotional ambivalence in what would otherwise have been an innocently playful work.

Blunt�s Symphony No.2 lasts nearly 17 minutes, comprising an elegiac Andante, the most emotionally overt music
on the disc, plus three gently melodious Allegretto movements.

The pervading elusiveness of Blunt�s music makes for an unusually intriguing listening experience. The Manchester
Camerata under Stephen Threlfall provides solid support throughout."
The Whole Note





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Many thanks

thanks

No.561
Modern: Neo-Classical

In his final year as BBC Philharmonic’s Chief Conductor, Juanjo Mena completes a highly-
acclaimed Alberto Ginastera series with this third volume. Like in his previous series ‘La Musica de Espa�a’,
Mena brings the composer’s creative genius to a more deserved fame, showcasing here three works that belonged
to three different period of his compositional life.

While the Concierto Argentino is the most significant score of his early years, drawing directly on
Argentinian folk music and full of youthful exuberance, the Variaciones Concertantes (more a concerto
for orchestra than a set of variations) assumes a more personal and abstract form in accordance with the development
of his harmonic ideas in the later stage of his life.

The rhythmic energy and magic scoring of the ‘neo-expressionist’ Piano Concerto No.1 (as Ginastera defined
the third phase of his life) is faithfully expressed by the highly technical and virtuosic playing of Xiayin Wang,
widely praised for her recent solo recording of piano works by Enrique Granados.



Music Composed by Alberto Ginastera
Played by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
With Xiayin Wang (piano)
Conducted by Juan Jos� Mena

"Juanjo Mena, also known as Juan Jos� Mena, is a Spanish conductor who has achieved international recognition
working with orchestras in Europe and the United States. Educated at the Conservatorio Jes�s Guridi in his home town
of Vitoria-Gasteiz, he advanced to the Real Conservatorio Superior de M�sica in Madrid, where he studied composition
and orchestration with Carmelo Bernaola, and conducting with Enrique Garc�a Asensio. He studied with Sergiu Celibidache
on a Guridi-Bernaolo Scholarship, and won the Ojo Critico Prize of Radio Nacional de Espa�a in 2002 for his work in
contemporary music. He was chosen by the Basque government to form the Youth Orchestra of Euskal Herria and
became the associate conductor of the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra. He conducted the Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa
and the Orchestra of the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, and in 2007 became the principal guest conductor of the Bergen
Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2011 he became the chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, though his appearances
with other orchestras included the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, the Gothenburg Symphony, the Dresden Philharmonic,
and the Orchestre National de France, as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the Los Angeles
Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Baltimore Symphony
Orchestra, among many others. Mena has recorded for Naxos and Chandos."





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BIG thanks for Ginastera, a Chandos CD is always a winner.

Thank you.

Thanks!!..Ginastera's 1st PC is definetely one of the best of its genre. What a final!!

No.562
Modern: Tonal/Late Romantic

After a brief period as an elementary and high school music teacher, Turkish composer Ahmed Adnan Saygun (1907-1991) won
a contest sponsored by the Ministry of Education which enabled him to go to Paris to study music in 1928. He returned to Turkey in
1931 and resumed teaching. He was forced to resign from a post as conductor of the Ankara Presidential SO because of hearing failure.
A position as an inspector of Halkevis or cultural institutions led to his research into Turkish folk music, collaborating with Bart�k. This
earned him a reputation as a leading authority on folklore. He is known as a notable figure in the Turkish Five and enjoys a rich creative
life in addition to his accomplishments in research. His compositions are a combination of Romantic and Impressionist styles, with
later works that employ more recent techniques. The oratorio Yunus Emre brought his work to the attention of the world.



Music by Ahmed Adnan Saygun & Edward Elgar
Played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra
With Rusen G�nes (viola)
Conducted by G�rer Aykal

"The Turkish composer Ahmed Adnan Saygun, now aged 82, studied in Paris with d'Indy in the late 1920s and later went
folk-song collecting with Bartok in the Balkans, Near East and North Africa. This latter experience led him to explore his
own country's folk-music and resulted in operas and oratorios based on Turkish folklore. This Viola Concerto was first
performed in 1978 by the soloist and conductor on this recording and has nothing specifically Turkish about it. The flavour
of folk-song is Bartokian and its idiom generally is post-romantic European. While lacking strong individuality, it is obviously
the work of a cultured, receptive musician with a sensitive ear for colour.

The writing for the viola is of virtuoso calibre and evokes a masterly performance from Rusen Gunes, whose distinguished
career in British orchestras is well known by now. His rich tone and artistic phrasing are wholly pleasing.

Gurer Aykal, a pupil of Saygun, makes rather a meal of Elgar's In the South, except that I liked the none-too-discreet use
of portamento in the string playing. Obviously this was recorded so that Gunes could play the viola solo, and most
beautifully he does it."
Gramophone





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ah, ginastera! thank you for this treat, wimpel

No.563
Modern: Tonal

The works of English composer Malcolm Arnold embrace a wide variety of styles, moving freely between the idioms of concert,
popular, jazz, and folk music. His varied output includes such works as the film score for "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (which won him
an Oscar) and a harmonica concerto. For the most part, his music is conservative in language, although there are notable exceptions.
In works like his Seventh and Eighth symphonies, he takes a rather eclectic approach to composition, closely juxtaposing very different
styles.

The Concerto for Flute and Strings, Op. 45, is really a duet for flute and string orchestra; throughout the piece the orchestra
responds to, and comments on, the material presented by the flute, and only rarely is it assigned a purely accompanimental role.
The string writing reveals Arnold's musical heritage in its similarity to that of earlier British composers such as Britten and Elgar.
Both flexibility and simplicity are required of the soloist. In the first movement, Allegro energico, metric ambiguity and the nearly
immediate entrance of the flute combine to create a feeling of extreme instability. The music briefly regains its balance during the
statement of a solitary theme, but then quickly returns to, and retains, the unsettled feeling of the opening. The second movement,
Andante, is songlike and understated. Whereas the first and third movements are largely rhythmic in conception, this one takes its
direction from the harmonic and melodic interaction between the flute and strings. The simple, restful tune "sung" by the flute, at
times becomes the basis of a struggle for power between the soloist and orchestra that causes tonal and rhythmic tensions; but,
for the most part, the mood is gentle. Concisely stated, the final movement, Con fuoco, is a frantic dash to the finish. Incessantly
driving orchestral rhythms and the running flute line provide the motion in a relatively static tonal environment (only a couple of
playful harmonic gestures provide relief from the otherwise ever-present tonic). Exceptional dexterity is required of the solo flutist.

The Flute Concerto No.2 followed the first flute concerto by about 20 years, and was written for the same soloist. Despite
these similarities, the works are very different. Although this is still a short work, the first movement is rather lengthy and serious,
about as long as the other two put together. This concerto includes wind instruments (the other one had strings only). Being a
representative work of a later period of Arnold's career, the sound of the work is leaner and the tone of the melodies is more
troubled, even somewhat bitter. Oddly enough, there is no slow movement; the opening is Allegro moderato, the middle
movement is Vivace, and the finale is Allegretto. Both the two last movements evoke the rhythm of the waltz, although in
quite different ways. The concerto may lack the surface joyfulness which has made the first concerto a pretty popular work,
but it has almost as much brilliance and considerable depth of expression. A very good work.



Music Composed by Malcolm Arnold
Played by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
With Sir James Galway (flute)
Conducted by Sir Neville Marriner

"In this expert, sweet-toned and affectionate music-making, these fine artists audibly enjoy themselves hugely,
responding to Arnold�s idiomatic and resourceful writing as to the manner born. I especially enjoyed Galway and
friends in the sparkling early Three Shanties for wind quintet (written in 1943 for the composer�s LPO colleagues)
and the delicious Divertimento for flute, oboe and clarinet (1953). Cast in six pithy movements (and masterfully
played here), the latter piece contains invention of great freshness and charm, with definite echoes of the English
Dances from the same period.

In the wistful central Andante of the First Flute Concerto (1954), Sir Neville Marriner and his beautifully prepared
Academy strings provide a poignant backdrop to Galway�s ravishing playing, and this music�s kinship with the
great slow movement of Arnold�s Second Symphony (completed the previous year) is most perceptively brought
out. In fact, the performances of both concertos strike me as probably the best we�ve had since dedicatee Richard
Adeney�s admirable 1979 versions (now restored on an well-filled Eminence release devoted to six of Arnold�s wind
and brass concertos). Galway himself was, of course, the lucky recipient of the Flute Sonata (whose premiere he
gave at the 1977 Cardiff Festival), and he and Philip Moll do full justice to this work�s entrancing mix of lyricism
(the lilting Andantino centrepiece boasts a particularly indelible main idea) and exhilarating virtuosity.

Recording quality is nicely integrated, too, with Galway never overprominently balanced, though Moll�s piano can
sound just a touch rough in its lowest reaches. A delightful anthology all the same.'"
Gramophone





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A 1000 thanks for these gems wimpel69.

No.564
Modern: Neo-Classical

The Concerto in Modo Misolidio was written in an incredibly short time during the summer of 1925, when Poema Autunnale for
violin and orchestra and large portions of the opera La Campana Sommersa were also composed. Respighi had no difficulty in
committing quantities of such differing music to paper, since he considered this final stage of composition a somewhat mechanical transfer
of already completed works, which might have had a mental gestation period of two or more years. The manuscripts were immediately
handed over to the publishers, who enjoyed the economically attractive prospect of possessing works which would never again be revised
by the composer. Respighi’s almost superstitious abhorrence of past activities often reached extremes. Even during moments leaving a
cheering audience with the following day’s programme already occupying his thoughts.

The score of the Concerto in Modo Misolidio bears the motto “Omnes gentes plaudit minibus” (“clap your hands, all ye nations”…
Psalm XLVII), and to the unfamiliar ear the music sounds quite exotic, similar to Respighi’s Concerto Gregoriano for violin and orchestra,
Quartetto Dorico and Tre Preludi sopra Melodie Gregoriane. All are eloquent testimony to the composer’s deep attachment to the musical
world of early Christianity. Inspired by hymns in the church modes, the works seldom quote actual melodies contained in the Graduale
Romanum. Instead Respighi created new themes of his own in the spirit of those ancient melodies. The mixolydian mode is a G major
scale with F in place of F sharp, transposable with the same intervallic pattern into any other key. Because of the flattened leading note
in the dominant seventh chord, the mixolydian mode on G resolves into C major. Its character is generally solemn, but Respighi’s
developmental skill and orchestral artistry provide a whole range of feeling from majestic grandeur to lyrical serenity.



Music Composed by Ottorino Respighi
Played by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra
With Sonya Hanke (piano)
Conducted by Myer Fredman

"Sonya Helen Hanke (1933–1993), pianist and music teacher, was born on 27 September 1933 at Hunters Hill, Sydney,
younger of two children of Sydney-born parents Henry Aloysius Hanke, artist, and his wife Emily, n�e Mortimer. Her father
was a well-known painter whose achievements included winning the 1934 Archibald prize and, in 1936, the inaugural
Sir John Sulman prize. Educated at North Sydney Girls’ High School, Sonya displayed an early aptitude for piano.
She studied at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music, graduating in 1951 with performance and
teaching diplomas. As a pianist, Hanke was much admired by leading music critics, who praised her interpretations
and technical mastery. Her meticulous preparation and her strength in playing flamboyant Romantic piano music were
also widely acknowledged, though some musicians described her approach as solid but lacking in method, a legacy
attributed to her long exposure to Italian piano culture. The critic Fred Blanks praised her ‘virtuosic technical agility’
and ‘affinity’ with the music of Franz Liszt; her performances of the composer’s works could ‘assume the stature of
musical revelation’ (1978, 21). An energetic musician, Hanke maintained a network of professional connections
and vigorously pursued her interests in Liszt and contemporary Italian composers."





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No.565
Romantic

A series of recording sessions in Hall One of the Sage Gateshead, with the Royal Northern Sinfonia conducted
by Martin Yates plus soloists Leon McCawley (piano) and Sergey Levitin (violin), yielded this
superb disc of early works by Irish composer Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924). The Piano Concerto is an
engaging work, with both poise and a flowing solo line � brilliantly performed here by Leon McCawley � but the
Violin Concerto is the more ambitious canvas, and demonstrates how quickly the young Stanford was maturing.
He had intended it for a virtuoso of his time, Italian violinist Guido Papini, but in the event it was never played.
In this recording, Sergey Levitin�s expressive and authoritative performance helps bring the music vividly to life.



Music Composed by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford
Played by the Northern Sinfonia of England
With Sergey Levitin (violin) & Leon McCawley (piano)
Conducted by Martin Yates

"Dutton Vocalion now let us hear early works written during Stanford's sapling years between ages 18 and 28.
In that sense these first recordings parallel another Dutton special - the one coupling Cyril Scott's unnumbered
prentice concertos for piano and cello, although those date from the 1900s. There were to be two other numbered
violin concertos (First; Second) from Stanford and three for piano (First; Second; Third). I should also mention the
Cello Concerto. The Clarinet Concerto gave Stanford a presence even during the extended darkness that for years
suffocated pretty well all of his music apart from the cathedral choral works. There are quite a few other concertante
works which he did not call 'concerto' and these include the two (Nos. 3 and 6) of the six Irish Rhapsodies.

Stanford's generic title for the Overture does this smiling piece of Brahmsian sunlight less than justice. Its ideas and
lines are suave while the tempo is middlingly fleet. There's little storm here - more Haydn Variations than Tragic Overture,
if I can push the Hamburg composer connection. Stanford dispenses Olympian light and contentment. That self-possessed
mien brims over into the articulate and curvaceous fluency of the three-movement Violin Concerto. This pre-dates the
Brahms concerto by three years but shares some of its determined lyrical character. Sergey Levitin is utterly secure and
captures the colours of this music in pages veined in wine red and aureate carnelian. The finale is chirpy and good-humoured
in the manner of a work dating from three decades earlier: the Mendelssohn Concerto. It ends with a cheeky companionable
cheerfulness. Levitin has already shown his mettle in Dutton's pioneering work for the concertos by Steinberg,
Bortkiewicz (CDLX7323) and Widor and I hope we will hear more from him.

The short and romantically cooling Piano Concerto is redolent in general terms of the Schumann Concerto. In concert it
would make a nice adjunct to either of Schumann's bipartite pieces for piano and orchestra (opp. 92 and 134). Leon McCawley
makes hay with this delightful if low-key work which would have fitted comfortably into Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto
series. It's in pretty much the same agreeable if unassuming constituency. I suspect a great deal of work went into preparing
the performance materials for this project. Such preparatory slog does not guarantee musical joys at the end of the creative
tunnel but this time they are there.

The Dutton recording is forthright and the performances from everyone are a spirited delight - no hint of dutiful gap-filling,
not even in the Piano Concerto. Examples are not in short supply but the golden Schumann-like tones of the brass are notable,
especially in the first movement of the Violin Concerto. Perhaps subtler still are the pleasing velvet sounds of the French
horns at the start of the finale.

Chris Howell's articles on Stanford and the Piano and the Concertos are well worth reading, as of course is Jeremy Dibble's
similarly authoritative liner-note for Dutton.

Dutton, Chris Yates, the Royal Northern Sinfonia (their first time with Dutton, I wonder), McCawley, Levitin and Dibble can
take a collective bow. Early works, but this makes a solidly enjoyable addition to the Stanford shelf."
Rob Barnett, Musicweb





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Thank you for this SUPER SUPER treat!! Hard to understand why the record industry only discovers these works now. I guess the world is greater need of yet another interpretation of Mahler's 5th (that there are at least 340003210 recordings of it). Once again your instinct to post rarest and most beautiful stuff like this is HIGHLYEST appreciated!! Thank you!!

The Mahler recordings have become positively epidemic. :(


No.566
Modern: Tonal

German composers Kurt Weill (1900 - 1950) and Ernst Krenek (1900 - 1991) were pursuing similar paths by the end of 1924.
Both were writing highly innovative violin concertos. That they were even thinking somewhat along the same lines is evident from the
opening of Krenek's Violin Concerto No.1. The first movement, which is in a variety of tempi beginning with a Presto, starts with
a long passage for violin solo with only winds in accompaniment. At the same time, Weill was writing a concerto with a wind band only,
as accompaniment. In Weill's case, this new sonority was the most distinguishing mark of the concerto. For Krenek, the idea was to
alienate the sound of the violin from the orchestra, and also to prepare for a dramatic moment in which the low strings suddenly enter,
transforming the character of the music from "feminine" to "masculine." The movement is a concise drama with moments of increasing
tension and reconciliation between these two moods. Fellow composer Berthold Goldschmidt interpreted the whole concerto as a kind of
portrait of developing domestic incompatibility (assuming the domestic situation involved was that of the composer and Miss Moodie).
Goldschmidt found the sound of the Adagio middle movement to convey a clear picture of a night train right in a sleeping compartment,
with the violin and instruments of the orchestra carrying on a serious discussion, which he thinks had to do with both determined to go
their own ways in their professional careers and the passionate conclusion to represent the actual separation.

Franz Schreker's career was stifled by the Great War. After the brilliant successes of his ballet Der Geburtstag der Infantin in
1908 and his opera Der ferne Klang in 1912 - leading to his appointment as professor of composition at Vienna's Imperial Music Academy -
the conservatism of the war years delayed the production of his latest opera. Meanwhile, he remained quietly busy. A commission from
the Academy prompted the composition of the Chamber Symphony, which incorporated music written for a prospective opera,
Die t�nenden Sph�ren. Accustomed to employing a Wagnerian orchestra for his operas, Schreker demonstrates with a mere 23
instruments -- 11 strings, seven winds, harp, piano, celesta, harmonium, and percussion -- that sonic witchery is not a matter of brute
force but of infinite cunning. A non-developing nod toward sonata form -- the Chamber Symphony's unbroken span includes an Allegro,
an Adagio, a Scherzo and a cyclic recall of the Allegro's material -- provides the merest thread along which Schreker strings a shimmering
aural phantasmagoria. Arresting feints, piquant harmonic shifts garbed in radiant auras of iridescent sonority, and glowing fragments of
beguiling melody pass in bewildering profusion. The upshot is expansive and diffuse, suffused with an air of constant distraction as strange,
hallucinatory moments yield to passionate intoxication, preternatural joy, or sudden terror.



Music by Ernst Krenek & Franz Schreker
Played by the Musikkollegium Winterthur
With Hanna Weinmeister (violin)
Conducted by Heinrich Schiff

"This Farao Classics disc features the Swiss Musikollegium Winterthur Orchestra under cellist-turned-conductor Heinrich Schiff
in two major, but rarely recorded works of the early twentieth century, Franz Schreker's Chamber Symphony (1916) and Ernst
Krenek's Violin Concerto (1924) featuring Hanna Weinmeister as soloist. Schreker's Chamber Symphony was written in the
midst of the First World War and it represents a transitional phase between the late idiom of Mahler and something more
nebulous and challenging. Krenek's first concerto sounds for all the world like a tersely concentrated twelve-tone composition
of the highest order, and yet, it is not -- it predates his efforts in serial technique and demonstrates that Krenek was already
thinking along those lines independently before adopting them.

The name Musikollegium Winterthur may seem unfamiliar, but the orchestra is not -- it is the ensemble formerly known as
the Stadtorchester Winterthur. It sure took a long time for the German label Farao to get this one out -- it was recorded in
2000, and Heinrich Schiff had already moved on to accept his post with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra by the time this disc
appeared in 2004. Farao's recording is top drawer, with an excellent sense of clarity and perspective on this small group that
sounds like a big one, although some very quiet passages drop a bit below the level of listening comfort. The performances
are tight and disciplined, and Weinmeister certainly has the Krenek under her fingers."
All Music





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No.567
Modern: Neo-Romantic

Ant�n Garc�a Abril was born in Teruel on 19 May in 1933. Between 1952 and 1955, he studied at the Madrid Royal Conservatory
of Music under Julio Gmez and Francisco Cales, and at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena under Vito Frazzi (composition), Paul van Kempen
(orchestral conducting) and Angelo Francesco Lavagnino (film music). In 1964, he furthered his studies at the Santa Cecilia National Academy
in Rome under Goffredo Petrassi, on a scholarship from the Juan March Foundation in Madrid. In the following year he won the Tormo de
Plata Prize on the occasion of the IV Cuenca religious Music Week for Cantico delle creature. With Luis de Pablo and Cristbal Halffter, he
also represented Spain at the 39th International Festival held by the International Contemporary Music Society (SIMC) in Madrid. He became
lecturer in Musical Composition and Form at the Madrid Royal Conservatory Music in 1974. Five years later his Hispavox recording of
Concierto aguediano granted him the Ministry of Culture Prize and in 1981 the Ministry of Cultures Andr�s Segovia Composition Prize for
Evocaciones and Cross of San Jorge (St. George) awarded by the Teruel Provincial Authority.

In 1982 he became an elected member of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid and in 1985 he took the Tom�s Bret�n
medal from the Association of Spanish Authors and Artists. Following an international symposium held to discuss the figure of Valle-Incl�n
in 1986, Abril was commissioned by the National Institute of Dramatic Arts and Music (INAEM) to write an opera based on Divinas palabras,
to be pr�miered at the Teatro Real in Madrid after completion of its reconversion into an opera house. Between 1988 and 1989,
he participated in the International Contemporary Music Festival, Festival of Peace, held in Leningrad, the Ministry of Culture Board of
Cultural Affairs and in the Hispano-Soviet Festival held in Georgia. In 1993 he was awarded the Aragon Regional Authority Medal for
Cultural Merit, the National Music Prize and the Guerrero Foundation Spanish Music Prize.



Music Composed & Conducted by Ant�n Garc�a Abril
Played by the Orquesta Sinf�nica de Madrid
With Gabriel Estarellas (guitar)

"Gabriel Estarellas (Palma de Mallorca, 1952​) es un guitarrista cl�sico, considerado uno de los mejores int�rpretes
en su instrumento. Su primer acercamiento con la guitarra fue a la edad de diez a�os en el colegio de La Salle de la
misma ciudad donde naci�.​ Ha sido catedr�tico de guitarra en el Real Conservatorio Superior de M�sica de Madrid y
profesor honorario de la Universidad de San Agust�n de Arequipa, Per�.

Como heredero de la escuela espa�ola de guitarra es uno de los m�ximos exponentes de m�sica contempor�nea en
su instrumento. Cuenta con m�s de 200 obras estrenadas, numerosas composiciones y ha grabado 17 discos, como
su famoso Diez estudios de virtuosismo. En cada uno de sus conciertos ha obtenido el reconocimiento del p�blico
m�s exigente.

Adem�s de sus notables actuaciones como ejecutante, se ha caracterizado por impulsar el inter�s de compositores
contempor�neos, muchos de ellos espa�oles, con el prop�sito de ampliar con sus composiciones el repertorio de la
guitarra cl�sica. La mayor�a de ellos le han dedicado sus obras para este instrumento, en el que ha conseguido aunar
el virtuosismo con la intenci�n expresiva de las obras.

Ha impartido recitales en diversas ciudades de Europa, Asia y Am�rica. En sus conciertos suele interpretar diferentes
autores y estilos, difundiendo as� nuevos repertorios. Sus claras ejecuciones denotan una l�gica formal, capaz de
acercar al oyente a la esencia musical de las composiciones, sin pretender sobresalir con alardes t�cnicos
exhibicionistas."





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No.568
Modern: Neo-Romantic

Between 1974 and 2003, Ant�n Garc�a Abril (*1933) was the head of the department of Compositions and Musical Forms (Composicion
y Formas Musicales) of the Real Conservatorio Superior de M�sica in Madrid, and in 1982 he was elected a member of the
Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. In 1994, he was awarded Spain's Premio Nacional de M�sica for
composition, and in 2008, he was also named a member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos in Valencia.

The final work on this album, Canciones y Danzas para Dulcinea, is in fact a selection of movements from
the concert suite the composer extracted from his acclaimed television score Monsignor Quixote, adapted for
a larger orchestra.



Music Composed and Conducted by Ant�n Garc�a Abril
Played by the Orquesta Filarm�nica de M�laga
With Mar�a Antonia Rodr�guez (flute) & Autora L�pez (piano)





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No.569
Modern: Neo-Classical/Socialist Realism

Nino Rota (1911-1979), best known for his scores for the "Godfather" films as well as Italian classics by Federico Fellini and other directors,
also composed a good deal of abstract music. It's never less than well wrought, and the end of modernist tyranny has brought a substantial
resurgence of interest in it. Rota composed four piano concertos, and the one recorded here grows on you with repeated hearings and has
been increasingly frequently performed and recorded. The casual Rota fan would be justified in asking whether his concert music resembles
his film scores; the answer is: sometimes, and increasingly often as his career proceeded. The Piano Concerto in E minor recorded here,
composed in 1978, is subtitled "Piccolo mondo antico," but many of its melodies could have come straight from one of Rota's film scores.
To be sure, these were often written for films that depicted some kind of vanishing worlds, and his melodic genius was tinged with nostalgia.
But the appeal of the work lies not merely in its collection of melodies, but also in Rota's skill at fusing his brand of melodicism with concerto
form. The space allotted to the prime Godfather-type melody is the second subject of the two outer movements, which fall into a loose sonata
form; the opening bars of the slow movement are also very cinematic. But in each case the material is artfully batted back and forth between
piano and orchestra, resulting in a texture that feels less like a traditional concerto than like an episodic film score, yet balances piano
and orchestra in consistently unexpected ways.

Although Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978) is revered in the Soviet Union for a large body of music, his fame in the West is based
largely on a mere handful of works, among which is the Piano Concerto (1936). The concerto's widespread appeal is at once
understandable, given its virtuosic flair, honest, unabashedly passionate melodic sense, and rich orchestration, all in the Russian Romantic
manner of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov. The opening movement of the concerto is cast in a somewhat loose sonata form, the impatient
main theme developing almost immediately upon its appearance. Out of this sonic mass the secondary material arises and evolves into a
powerful, cerebral monologue for the soloist before the furious development leads into an exuberant, headstrong cadenza. The primary
theme returns in force as the subject of the coda. The second movement begins with a dignified melody, introduced by the bass clarinet.
The dramatic heart of the movement is the middle section, a potent combination of oriental flavoring and turbulent Russian drama that
builds to an ecstatic climax. The movement is rounded out by a return of the introductory material. The far-reaching, virtuosic Allegro
brillante finale is built around contrasting themes and an outrageous, bravura cadenza. The concerto comes to a close with the return,
on a grand scale, of material from the first movement.



Music by Nino Rota & Aram Khachaturian
Played by the Orquesta de C�rdoba
With Ana Cl�udia Girotto (piano)
Conducted by Elena Herrera

"Nino Rota (1911�1979) is one those composers, like recently deceased Gian Carlo Menotti, born the same year, that fell between
generational cracks. Having studied in Milan with Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880�1968), Rota is an extension of the late 19th- and early
20th-century generation of Italian composers that included Respighi (1879�1936), Malipiero (1882�1973), and Wolf-Ferrari (1876�1948).
He stood at the intersection between the old-guard and the avant-garde; in age, just young enough to have joined the ranks of
Luigi Nono (1924�1990) and Luciano Berio (1925�2003), but in musical temperament, just old enough to look back with nostalgia
on his Romantic heritage.

It is not surprising that both Menotti and Rota, out of step with the more radical camp, sought outlets for their considerable creative
talents mainly outside of elitist �serious� music circles. For Rota that outlet became the motion picture and television industry.
Between 1933 and the year of his death, 1979, he wrote scores for and contributed to at least 100 screen productions, including
Francis Ford Coppola�s The Godfather series and Franco Zeffirelli�s Romeo and Juliet . Rota�s association with famed film director
Federico Fellini was especially noteworthy, resulting in scores for 81?2, Juliet of the Spirits, La strada, Satyricon, and La dolce vita .
Like Korngold, however, Rota was determined to leave a legacy of purely instrumental and symphonic concert works, to which end
he composed three symphonies that have been recorded, sonatas for violin, viola, and for flute and harp, string quartets, a wind
nonet, a considerable volume of solo piano pieces, and at least 10 concertos for various instruments.

Rota�s 1978 E-Minor Piano Concerto recorded here is one of two he wrote for the instrument. Its subtitle or subtext, �little world of
antiquity,� is indeed curious, for there is nothing diminutive or archaic about it. This is a big, three-movement romantic concerto
with Grieg, Gershwin, and Greta Garbo nipping at its heels, and not a whiff of Respighi�s �ancient airs.� If you love the emotional
rush of sweeping orchestral movie music set to tragic melodramas, and a thrillingly virtuoso solo piano part, Rota�s concerto is
guaranteed to reduce you to blubbering and drooling. Such is the power of music to utter abstract sounds that have no material
meaning and yet to make us weep. I prefer Girotto�s performance and Lindoro�s recording to that of Massimo Palumbo on Chandos;
but I prefer the latter�s coupling that gives us Rota�s C-Major Piano Concerto in place of the too frequently recorded and sometimes
critically derided D-Flat Concerto of Aram Khachaturian.

Completed in 1936 and premiered by Lev Oborin, Khachaturian�s concerto, written more than 40 years before Rota�s, is melodically,
harmonically, and rhythmically more modernistic, but still closely tied to the romantic tradition and style of writing that we hear in
the concertos of Rachmaninoff and Gershwin. Being of Armenian extraction, however, Khachaturian�s melodies, harmonies, and
rhythms are of a more ethnically flavored, folkloristic bent than are those of the cosmopolitan Russian, Rachmaninoff. This issue�s
quiz consists of two questions, to which I will give you the answer to the first. What exotic instrument does Khachaturian make
use of in the concerto�s second movement? The answer is the flexatone, a percussion oddity that produces its sound by means
of wood beaters shaken on a metal sheet. You�re on your own to come up with the answer to the second question: what other
composers employed a flexatone and in which of their compositions? Surprisingly more than you might think.

This is a fine and satisfying performance of a piece that in my opinion has little if any substance to it. If you are so inclined, you
can hear it played, albeit on a recording made in 1946, by the pianist who premiered it 10 years earlier, Lev Oborin. William Kapell,
another early advocate for the concerto, recorded it more than once, but most notably also in 1946, with Koussevitzsky and the
Boston Symphony. Sad to say, I�m not familiar with either of these recordings, the one and only version I�ve had of the piece in
my collection prior to the arrival of this new one being a modern stereo recording with pianist Alberto Portugheis joined by Loris
Tjeknavorian conducting the London Symphony Orchestra on ASV. It is still available at a budget price. The main difference
between Girotto and Portugheis is the timings. Portugheis is consistently faster, and considerably so in the last movement,
which benefits the music�s brilliante forward-driving momentum. It also gets it over with that much quicker.

Still, if you�re interested in Girotto�s CD, more than likely it�s going to be for the Rota, which will bring you no end of
tearful pleasure."
Fanfare





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No.570
Modern: Neo-Classical

Stanley Weiner (1925-1991) was an American composer and violinist, conductor and music teacher. Weiner came from a Russian-Jewish
immigrant family; his father was deputy concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. An eight-year-old Stanley appeared as soloist
with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC. In 1947 he became concertmaster of the New York Symphony Orchestra under
Leonard Bernstein and later transferred to the Indianapolis Symphony. In 1953 he moved to Brussels as a violin soloist and teacher, and
in 1976 received a violin professorship at the Musikhochschule Hamburg.

Weiner's oeuvre, which only began composing at the age of thirty, comprises more than 200 orchestral works with opus numbers.
His music deliberately sets itself apart from the avant-garde currents of the 20th century and uses mostly an easily accessible,
tonal and melodic idiom. The two featured Conciertos de Sanl�car (for violin and 2 guitars, respectively) are cast in a neo-classical
vein, with a light and humorous touch.



Music Composed by Stanley Weiner
Played by the Sinfonietta Hamburg
With Katharina Hempel (guitar) & Klaus Hempel (guitar)
And Stanley Weiner (violin) & Andreas Schneider (oboe)
Conducted by Juan Rodriguez Romero





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No.571
Late Romantic

Pianist and composer Eugen d'Albert (1864-1932) was a key figure in German post-Romanticism, born to German parents
in Glasgow, Scotland. His father, Charles Louis Napol�on d'Albert, was a popular orchestra leader in the U.K. who specialized in
light music. D'Albert began his musical training under his father, continuing it with Sir Arthur Sullivan and others. In 1881, d'Albert
went to Weimar to study with his idol, Franz Liszt, whose impact on d'Albert's work both as a pianist and a composer proved
crucial. Armed with endorsements from Liszt, Clara Schumann, and Anton Rubinstein, d'Albert went on to an enormously
successful career as a concert pianist. By the early 1890s, d'Albert began to turn his compositional activity away from the
keyboard in favor of opera, and he scored his first hit, Die Abreise, in 1898. On November 15, 1903, d'Albert's masterwork,
the opera Tiefland, opened in Prague. Tiefland's was an alluring and innovative mixture of Italian verismo and Viennese
operetta, and proved a success beyond d'Albert's wildest hopes, although he would never again match it.

After studying piano and organ with his father and music with Anacker, Robert Volkmann (1815-1883) studied composition
with Becker in Leipzig where he heard Mendelssohn and met Schumann. By 1841 he had settled in Budapest where he remained
for the rest of his life with only one exception, a three year stay in Vienna. He became quite cognizant and understanding of the
Hungarian national fervor in music and founded the Hungarian National Music Academy in 1875 with Liszt and Erkel. Composing
in almost all forms of music his songs were inspired by folk traditions of Hungary and his instrumental works became very
important. His "String Serenade, no. 3," and "B-flat minor Piano Trio" were particularly significant particularly the trio which
was lauded by Liszt, Wagner and Bulow. The most interesting aspect of Volkmann's compositions was his implementation of
rhythmic structures as he continuously shifted accents and meters.



Music by Eugen d'Allbert & Robert Volkmann
Played by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Conducted by Jir� St�rek & Miltiades Caridis


Eugen d'Albert, Robert Volkmann.



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No.572
Modern: Neo-Classical

Stanley Weiner (1925-1991) was an American composer and violinist, and conductor and music teacher. Weiner came from
a Russian-Jewish immigrant family; his father was deputy concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Eight-year-old Stanley
appeared solo with the National Symphony Orchestra Washington. In 1947 he became concertmaster of the New York Symphony Orchestra
under Leonard Bernstein and later moved to the Indianapolis Symphony. In 1953 he moved to Brussels as a violin soloist and teacher,
and in 1976 received a violin professorship at the Musikhochschule Hamburg.

Weiner's oeuvre, which began composing at the tender age of thirty, includes over 200 opus-numbered orchestral works (including
humoristically such as Schnuffib�r and the double bass op. 119 for speaker, large orchestra and double bass solo), chamber music,
vocal and church music. His music deliberately sets itself apart from the avant-garde currents of the 20th century and uses mostly
an easily accessible, tonal and melodic idiom.



Music Composed by Stanley Weiner
Played by the NOS Chamber Orchestra
With Stanley Weiner (violin/viola)
Conducted by Jan Stulen





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No.573
Modern: Neo-Romantic

Joaquin Rodrigo's (1901-1999) Concerto in modo galante for cello and orchestra was written for cellist Gaspar Cassad� and
dates from 1949. Although Rodrigo was somewhat reluctant to write another concerto at that stage of his career, he ultimately found the
structure that suited him: an opening Allegretto grazioso followed by an Adagietto and a Rondo giocoso. The work draws its inspiration
from eighteenth-century Spain and the music of Boccherini, and has a popular feel, along with touches of irony. Cassad� judged the
concerto as �an excellent work and a significant addition to the cello/orchestra repertoire ... its instrumentation is so economical as to
make this one of the few scores in which the solo cello is never drowned out by the weight of the orchestra�. The premi�re took place
in Madrid�s Palacio de la M�sica, on 4th November 1949, with Cassad� and the Orquesta Nacional de Espa�a, conducted by Ata�lfo Argenta.

The Concierto de Aranjuez was Rodrigo's first attempt in the concerto genre; it quickly became, and has subsequently remained,
the most popular and recognizable of his works. Written for solo guitar and orchestra, it reveals the composer's great affinity for those
two mediums, as well as his reverence for the long-standing traditions of Spanish Classical music. It was composed after Rodrigo's return
to Madrid from France (he fled the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War) in 1939, and premiered there to great success in 1940.

Aside from its overt references to Spanish folk music and straightforward lyrical disposition, the Concierto de Aranjuez is notable for the
way in which Rodrigo managed to wed the relatively small voice of the solo guitar to that of the full orchestra. His writing is extremely
idiomatic for both guitar and orchestra, and one leaves a hearing of the work with the impression that writing for the two together is
quite natural; the guitar never seems overmatched or out of its element. Rodrigo's orchestration is simple, clear, and yet interesting.

Sones en la Giralda means Sounds in the Giralda, meaning the area of the famous Moorish tower by that name, standing near the
main cathedral in Seville. Rodrigo's piece portrays the tower in two eras. First comes a slow section reaching, as his music often does,
far into the past to evoke the sounds of the Arab occupation of Spain. The second movement is contemporary, evoking popular music,
folk song, and modern flamenco, all of which might be heard in the area in the composer's day. It is an unusually attractive nine-minute piece.



Music Composed by Joaqu�n Rodrigo
Played by the North German Radio Sebastian Hess (cello)
With Eug�ne H�lzer (guitar)Philharmonic Orchestra
Conducted by Israel Yinon





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No.574
Modern: Neo-Classical

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948) was an important Italian composer of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
His comic operas may be his best-known works, but none have endured in the standard repertory. Toward the latter twentieth century
his Op. 26 Violin Concerto (1901) began gaining some currency, as well as chamber works like Piano Trios, Opp. 5 and 7,
and the Idillio-concertino, Op. 15.

Wolf-Ferrari has generally been described as a gentle man with a childlike manner, whose music always reflected a conservative b
ent. Many have speculated the wartime woes he suffered in watching the two countries of his heritage divided by conflict, left indelible
scars that altered his compositional style and focus.

Indeed, after three decades away from the instrumental realm, Wolf-Ferrari returned to the genre with the 1933 Idillio-concertino,
for oboe, two horns, and strings, Op. 15. By the mid-1940s his opus number had reached above 30, largely on the strength of his
renewed efforts in instrumental music -- only four operas followed Sly. Yet, outside of the 1946 Violin Concerto, most of these
works were subsequently ignored, despite their generally solid features. Wolf-Ferrari died in Venice on January 21, 1948,
his reputation already fading.



Music Composed by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Played by the Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen
With Omar Zoboli (oboe/cor anglais)
Conducted by Robert Maxym

"Omar Zoboli: Oboe studies with Sergio Possidoni, Heinz Holliger, Paul Dombrecht. Experience and inspiration gained
by working with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Frans Brueggen. Philosophy Faculty at Universit� Bologna/ Italy. First Prizes
at the International Competition of Ancona and at the Italian Television (RAI) Competition for Young Performers 1978.

He owes his international reputation largely to his first recordings (among others a CD dedicated to A.Pasculli, the
�Paganini of the Oboe�) which were received with great acclaim, and brought engagements at various festivals and with
major orchestras in Berlin, Rotterdam, Paris, Warsaw, Lugano, Geneva, Zurich, Basel, Milan, London, Japan and the
United States. Besides being a soloist, he is an enthusiastic performer varying from duo to baroque ensemble, playing
on period instruments, and from wind octet (Ottetto Classico Italiano) to larger string-wind groups and contemporary
music included improvisation.

Composers like Bussotti, Castiglioni, Glass, Gaudibert, Hoch, Lucchetti, M�schinger, Pagliarani and many others have
written for and dedicated works to him.

He has recorded a DVD (Lebrun Concerto, Frans Br�ggen conducting) and about 30 LPs and CDs for Accord, Claves,
Divox, Ex Libris, Harmonia Mundi, Jecklin, Koch-Schwann, Stradivarius, Teldec and others with works that represent
the oboe repertoire of the last three centuries at its very best.

Omar Zoboli has been oboe soloist of the Radio Orchestras of Lugano (RSI) and Naples (RAI), of the St.Gallen Symphony
Orchestra and of the Basel Chamber Orchestra. Baroque and classical Oboes with Concentus Musicus Wien (Nikolaus
Harnoncourt), Il Giardino Armonico (Giovanni Antonini), Scintilla Orchester Z�rich, I Barocchisti (Diego Fasolis).

Since 1991 he has also been conducting with great succes his hown projects with large wind ensembles and orchestras.

He has been invited to give master classes in England (Royal College of Music in Kensington and Royal Academy of Music),
Spain, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, South America, China.

Since 1988 he has been teaching oboe and chamber music at the Basel Music Academy."





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No.575
Modern: Tonal/Neo-Romantic

Pianist, producer, and composer James Newton Howard (*1951) scored over 60 films beginning in the mid-'80s. Howard began
taking classical piano lessons at the age of four, playing on a piano owned by his grandmother, who was the Pittsburgh Symphony's
concertmaster and violinist during the 1930s and '40s. He went on to study at the USC School of Music and at the Music Academy of
the West (in Santa Barbara, California) with Reginald Stewart and Leon Fleisher. He also studied under orchestrator Marty Paich, who
would later conduct some of Howard's scores. After graduating from college, Howard joined a short-lived rock band, then worked for a
couple of years as a session musician with artists including Diana Ross, Ringo Starr, and Harry Nilsson. In 1975, he joined the band
of the most popular artist of that time, Elton John, toured with him during the mid-'70s, and later re-joined for a tour in 1980
and again in 1986. He has received numerous Oscar nominations, and won an Emmy Award for his theme for the television
show Gideon's Crossing and a Grammy Award in 2009.

Aaron Jay Kernis' (*1960) musical character emerged early and has remained essentially constant throughout his career:
he is a composer with eclectic interests (both musical and non-musical), a theatrical, dramatic bent, and an uncompromising attitude
toward his art. Kernis' style is accessible and popular, and his music is widely played. Kernis began his musical training on the violin,
and at the age of 12 began to teach himself piano. He studied for one year (1977-1978) at the San Francisco Conservatory with
John Adams, and then completed a degree in 1981 at the Manhattan School of Music, studying composition with Charles Wuorinen
and Elias Tanenbaum. In 1983 Kernis received a master's degree from Yale, where he had studied with Jacob Druckman among others.
Like other American composers such as David Del Tredici or Christopher Rouse), Kernis has made frequent reference to music
of the past.



Music by Aaron Jay Kernis, James Newton Howard & Bramwell Tovey
Played by The Seattle Symphony & the Detroit Symphony Orchestras
With James Ehnes (violin)
Conducted by Ludovic Morlot & Cristian Macelaru

"There’s some entertaining, dazzling, smile-inducing, toe-tapping music here but I can’t give you a cast-iron promise
that there’s much more. Aaron Jay Kernis is the pre eminent orchestral showman of the age and his meeting of minds
with Heifetz’s representative on earth James Ehnes has resulted in a concerto that goes through just about every motion possible.

Kernis doesn’t just get multiple shades of feeling from the chord sequence of his opening Chaconne; he gets that sequence
to semaphore drastically different emotions while the music itself becomes stylistically more manic, roaring out that chord
sequence with ominous foreboding one minute and merrily tweeting it the next. There are interesting disruptive elements in
the slow movement, where Ehnes trades his fire-breathing for a pure ribbon of sound, and a dazzling finale that underlines
the piece’s credentials as a concerto as much for orchestra as for violin.

James Newton Howard’s Concerto is more straightforwardly built, which initially refreshes but soon frustrates, as every passage
feels cued up like a film score, in direct contrast to Kernis’s twisting kaleidoscope – reactive in the moment rather than long-term.
The white notes, clean intervals and fresh air of the Andante middle movement initially endear themselves but the feeling is of
Copland without the undertow; the Presto gets lovingly and refreshingly close to the cleanness of expression that lies behind
much American music but it can’t help fattening up and trying to lock into bigger narratives that aren’t there. The big-boned
coda feels somehow hollow.

There are no such aspirations in Bramwell Tovey’s Stream of Limelight, a flight of imaginative fancy inspired apparently by
Ehnes’s playing and again concerned with notions of display – a clever enough pastiche piece but of more personal than wider
musical value. Ehnes’s characteristic sweetness and tenderness married to unerring strength and direct musicianship are on
display in all three pieces. The one I’d be most keen to hear again is Kernis’s. How many times is another question."
Andrew Mellor, Gramophone





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Lovely conciertos, modern and original. First time i ear this composer. Thanks for let us discover it !!

No.576
Modern: Neo-Classical



Music by Michel Legrand, Andr� Hossein, Bernard Herrmann & Jean Wiener
Played by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo
With Danielle Laval (piano)
Conducted by Pascal Verrot

"All four of these composers are most famous for writing film music, although they wrote concert music as well. (Of the four, only
Michel Legrand is still alive, and (we hope) still writing.) It is Legrand who gets the largest font on the cover of this CD. The music
is from the film "Summer of '42," of course � some might remember a vocal version of this melody with the title "The Summer
Knows." To call this a concertino is something of a stretch, however, because it lasts all of 3:53 in this performance. Better, perhaps,
to say that this is simply a lush and romantic arrangement of "The Summer Knows" for piano and orchestra, and to leave it at that.

Bernard Herrmann's more substantial Concerto Macabre also comes from an American film � in this case, the nearly forgotten
"Hangover Square," about which Pascal Rivoire's booklet notes say not a word. In the film's climax, a composer has murdered his
deceiving mistress. Coming unglued, he sets fire to the concert hall in which he is premiering his new piano concerto. The orchestra
and audience scatter in alarm, and the composer is left to complete his concerto alone in the inferno. Macabre indeed. This twelve-
minute concerto sounds like what Liszt's Mephisto Waltz might have sounded like had the devil preferred a tarantella instead.
The piano writing is flashy at first, and later stark and doom-haunted as Herrmann depicts the figuratively and literally collapsing
world of the composer.

Less known than these other two composers is Aminholla Andr� Hossein, who came to the film music genre quite late in his career.
(His son, the actor and director Robert Hossein, asked him to score his first film in 1956, when the composer was already in his
late 40s.) This so-called "Fantasy Concerto" is not associated with a film, however. In three short movements (the total timing is
under 13 minutes), Hossein drops large hints about his Uzbekistani background � he was born in Samarkand in 1907. The music
has one foot in the West and the other in the East, and is attractive and lightweight.

The last composer represented here is the Frenchman Jean Wiener. His "Franco-American" concerto was written in 1924, and was
inspired (we are told in the booklet notes) by American music, especially by the music of George Gershwin. Don't expect a
Rhapsody in Blue knock-off, however. Wiener's concerto is cool and neoclassical, incorporating elements of jazz for spice, not
as the main ingredient.

Laval is a capable pianist, but other pianists have been more assertive and frightening in the Herrmann. Verrot and the Monte-
Carlovians give her excellent support, and Na�ve's engineers make all the performers sound good. This is a short CD, and not a
very serious one, but it is worth exploring particularly for the works by Wiener and Hossein."
Raymond Tuttle, Classical Net



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No.577
Modern: Neo-Classical/Tonal

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) composed the Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in 1932, and played the first performance
with Jacques Fevrier on September 5 during the Fifth International Music Festival in Venice, with D�sire Defauw conducting the La Scala
Orchestra from Milan. It is scored for double winds and brass plus piccolo, English horn, tuba, assorted drums, and reduced strings.
While Poulenc was studying with Koechlin, Serge Diaghilev commissioned him to write Les biches (colloquially "The Girls") for his Ballets
Russes. Produced in 1924, this made Poulenc famous. He solidified his reputation in 1928 with the delectable Concert champ�tre for
harpsichord. The saucy-sentimental Two-Piano Concerto followed in 1932, commissioned by the Princesse Edmond de Polignac (herself a
composer, but more famous as a Parisian hostess and patron of the arts). Songs apart, the Two-Piano Concerto has proved to be the
composer's hardiest work, clearly influenced by Ravel's G major Concerto, which was premiered at Paris in January 1932 -- especially
its instrumentation and "blues" passages (in their very French way). Each of the three movements has a slow central section, part-
bittersweet, part-sentimental, amounting to ABA form in the first and second, but a rondo-component in the finale.

Darius Milhaud's (1892-1974) Concerto for Two Pianos and Percussion was written on commission from the Juilliard School
of Music and premiered there in August, 1963. In choosing his unconventional performing forces, Milhaud next set himself to the task of
ensuring that the music have as little resemblance as possible to the seminal work with such a configuration: B�la Bart�k's
Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (1937). The writing for the piano, in contrast to the driving, hard-edged demands of the
Bart�k Sonata, is non-percussive and tending toward arabesque figuration that Milhaud weaves into colorful tapestry. The four
percussionists are deployed sparingly until the final movement and are used primarily as a source of punctuation and timbral interest.
The first movement is good-humored; the second, more solemn but infused with an ingratiating warmth. Milhaud characteristically
invests the finale with much exuberance and rollicking high spirits.

The composition date given in the headnote for B�la Bart�k's (1881-1945) Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra
is slightly misleading: yes, Bart�k produced this effort in 1940, but it is an arrangement of the 1937 Sonata for 2 pianos and percussion.
While for some time the chamber version may have been the preferred one, especially among critics, the orchestral rendition eventually
became the more popular choice in concert halls and the recording studio. Bart�k had originally conceived the work for solo piano and
percussion, but felt a second keyboard would supply sufficient sonic heft to provide the proper instrumental balances. Largely because
of the work's success at its debut on January 16, 1938, the composer decided to arrange it for orchestra, changing relatively small portions
of the piano and percussion scoring. The concerto is cast in three movements, the first lasting around 13 or 14 minutes, about the length
of the other two combined.



Music by Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud & B�la Bart�k
Played by the Colorado College Summer Music Festival Orchestra
With Susan Grace (piano) & Alice Rybak (piano)
And with John Kinzie (percussion) & David Colson (percussion)
Conducted by Scott Yoo

"This enticing collection for the most part contains very fine performances by the piano duo Quattro Mani. Best of all is the
Milhaud Concerto No. 2 for Two Pianos and Percussion, a typically spiky and rhythmically charged essay in the composer�s
patented brand of polytonality, full of inventive sonorities. A rarity both on disc and in concert, it would make a welcome
change from the usual Bart�k sonata. Speaking of which, here we have the composer�s concerto version, also a rarity, and
one in which the orchestra contributes absolutely nothing of importance to the proceedings. Interestingly, the small size of
the ensemble is a plus, with the strings and winds simply enriching the basic piano plus percussion sonorities. I do wish,
though, that the timpani in the finale had more presence and solidity (even though Bart�k�s dynamics are correctly observed).

Leading off the program is Poulenc�s marvelous Concerto for Two Pianos, and in this piece the orchestra�s small-sounding
string section, with its relative lack of body, really does tell (though there�s nothing wrong with the conducting or ensemble
as such), particularly in those luscious melodies in the slow movement and latter half of the finale. Also the playing of both
pianists, while elegant and fluid, lacks the nervous edge and �sec� quality that gives Poulenc�s eclectic style its characteristic
point. But then, there are several fine versions of this concerto, beginning with the composer�s own, and very few of the
Milhaud and Bart�k. So for the latter two works particularly, this disc can certainly be recommended."
David Hurwitz, Classics Today



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No.578
Modern: Neo-Romantic

American composer and pianist John Alan Rose is an emerging, multi-talented artist of great insight who has successfully
performed his own music throughout the United States. Twice performing in �Winners� Concerts� at Carnegie Hall in New York City,
Mr. Rose has received prizes at international music competitions both as a pianist and as a composer. He has appeared on radio
and TV commenting and playing his own music and has recorded his works on various labels.

Rose stuns from the outset with his imaginative Piano Concerto �Tolkien Tale,� a programmatic fantasy with clear Eastern
European folk elements. In the first movement �Setting out on a great adventure,� the listener, perhaps on a journey with famed
hobbit Bilbo Baggins, is introduced to playful syncopations and pentatonic explorations -- perhaps in homage to folk explorations
of Bartok, Brahms, Dvorak, and Prokofiev. The Earth and all its elements can be heard in Rose�s masterful orchestration, highlighting
impressive writing for chimes and percussion. The warm �Lullaby,� the second movement, is a short interlude, a breathtaking look
at tandem possibilities for keyboard instruments and woodwinds. Concluding the work is �March,� a continuation of the fanciful
literary journey with musically atmospheric projections of things encountered along the way. The work is solid, accessible, and
most of all memorable -- one that could work itself into standard orchestral repertoire for years to come.

Next is Old Father Time for cello and orchestra, a nostalgic, yet timeless work demonstrating the composer�s mastery of
the neo-Romantic style and the complexities of storytelling through music. Maestro Vaupotić has created such a purity in timbre
and sonority that the listener will be astonished at how clearly critical every part is in creating a whole. As concertist
Jungwon Choi (cello) humbly shares the stage as part of the orchestra.

The two-minute violin introduction to 25,000 Years of Peace is modern, seemingly improvisational and likewise experimental.
The violinist somehow replicates the hollow breaths heard in folk woodwinds. It is meditative and almost religious. Direction is
unclear. But then the grand orchestra enters and the listener is transported to the Western frontier in an Ives-like montage of
New World folk tune, Native American chant, and Shaker hymnsong. The modern aesthetic is so seamlessly woven into the
fabric, one wonders, at times, if Fleck and Wooten have entered the picturesque scene.

Listeners will enjoy Ticket to the Theater featuring soprano Sing Rose and the dark comedic narration of actor
Tyler Bunch (Sesame Street). John Alan Rose explains, �my goal was to contribute a new piece to the vocal/orchestral
repertoire suggesting a grand operatic performance, but requiring only one performer, one narrator and no set.
It is supposed to seem off-the-cuff, and since "invented" by a musician onstage, resorts to the barest of bones of
a plot, without an identifiable lead character!�



Music Composed by John Alan Rose
Played by the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra
With John Alan Rose (piano)
And Sing Rose (soprano) & Tyler Bunch (narrator)
Conducted by Miran Vaupotic





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No.579
Modern: Tonal/Contemporary

Brazilian-American composer Miguel Kertsman (*1965) writes in numerous genres embracing classical music, jazz, progressive
rock, electronica and film, bridging these diverse elements to craft a unique sound world. Concerto Brasileiro explores lyricism
and modernity through solemn chorale-like writing and seductive dances laced with Brazilian folk rhythms. Uncommon sonorities,
haunting themes and ethereal landscapes mark out the Concerto for Violin, Horn, Shofar and Orchestra, while traditionalism
and experimentation define the Journey for Bassoon and Orchestra. Chamber Symphony No.2 explores and celebrates
New York�s rich cultural diversity.



Music Composed by Miguel Kertsman
Played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra
With Maria Piccinini (flute) & Orsolya Korcsol�n (violin)
And Martin Kuuksmann (bassoon) & Gergely Sugar (French horn & shofar)
Conducted by Dennis Russell Davies

"Born in Brazil in 1965, Miguel Kertsman was musically educated in the United States, and has had a very diverse career
working in numerous genres and formats. The booklet with the disc comments that in the world of composition he bridges
elements in �genre-bending music for the concert stage with unique sound and wide appeal�. Stylistically he is a very personal
composer working in a devolved modern tonality that seems to have a desire to embrace melody, but then shies away from it
to keep him in a modern world. The four works on the disc include soloists they were written for, and at times, as in the
Flute Concerto, his ideas mix Brazil with Oriental sensuality, the finale moving in to a rugged intensity. The second concerto
employs an ancient instrument, the shofar, originally made from a ram horn, it adds its own unusual sonority but its ability
to make �music� is very limited, the French horn thus becoming the dominant instrument. It certainly does not have, to my
ears, the ready impact of the flute concerto, but has a rather discursive feel. Composed one year earlier, in 2012, the
Bassoon �concerto�, is by comparison, a very beautiful if, at times, rather sombre score, its shape consisting of three
musical pictures separated by interludes. Fashioned from his jazz compositions, the Second Chamber Symphony, completed
three years ago, is in one continuous movement and is an �easy on the ear� modern score. The soloists are familiar with
the concertos and having Dennis Russell Davies�who is equally involved with the composer�as the conductor, we only
have to add the outstanding London orchestra to complete a desirable disc of Twenty-first century music excellently recorded."
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No.580
Modern: Late/Neo-Romantic

It is indeed a cause for excitement when two concertos by Florence Price, the first African American woman to write a
symphony performed by a major U.S. Orchestra, are recorded. There are no known performances of Price's First Violin Concerto,
but the Violin Concerto No.2, completed in 1952 was performed posthumously by its dedicatee, Minnie Cedargreen Jemberg at the
opening of the Florence B. Price School in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood in 1964. The two concertos are joined on this recording by a
work for violin and orchestra by Ryan Cockerham, which is a tribute to Florence Price's home state of Arkansas. Violinist
Er-Gene Kahng is on the faculty at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and is concertmaster of the Arkansas Philharmonic
Orchestra. She is on the violin faculty at the Montecito International Music Festival, the Beverly Hills International Music Festival,
and performs with the Bay View Music Festival string quartet. Ryan Cockerham's creative work has been exhibited and performed
by leading arts and academic organizations around the world, including the English National Ballet, Art Expo Milano, and the
Texas Ballet Theater, among many others.



Music Composed by Florence Price
Played by the Jan�cek Philharmonic Orchestra
With E-Gene Kahng (violin)
Conducted by Ryan Cockerham

"By her own admission, composer Florence Price had two strikes against her.

"To begin with I have two handicaps � those of sex and race. I am a woman; and I have some Negro blood in my veins,"
is how she began a 1943 letter to Serge Koussevitzky, the revered conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
She added later, "I would like to be judged on merit alone."

Koussevitzky never gave her music a chance, but along the way a few others did. Even so, her music is little known �
and some of it was lost for decades � but now Price is finally receiving a little belated recognition. There's a profile in
the New Yorker by Alex Ross and a new recording of two recently discovered Violin Concertos on the Albany label.

Price completed her Violin Concerto No. 2 in 1952, the year before her sudden death at age 66, just as she was set to
explore career possibilities in Europe. The manuscript was never published and considered lost sometime after 1975,
when Price's daughter died. The concerto, along with other music and personal papers, was discovered by accident in
2009 when renovators opened up an abandoned house Price once owned some 70 miles south of Chicago.

Unfolding over a relatively brief 14-minute span, the concerto opens with a sober orchestral introduction, pausing for
a beat to let the solo violin make its honeyed, serpentine entrance. Violinist Er-Gene Kahng's tone, round and lustrous,
is well-suited to the concerto's breezy melodic theme and dotted rhythm, which propels the music forward. Along
with Price's harmonies � with their tasteful dabs of dissonance � the music is reminiscent of the sweeping, melody-
driven American violin concertos of the 1930s by Samuel Barber and Erich Korngold.

Price grew up in Little Rock, Ark. and published her first piece in 1899. She enrolled at the New England Conservatory,
where she studied with George Chadwick. Later, in Chicago, she earned a post-graduate degree in 1934. While working
on her compositions, she wrote radio jingles, popular songs under the name "Vee Jay" and accompanied silent films at
the organ. Later, she would write songs for contralto Marian Anderson, who sang Price's arrangement of "My Soul's
Been Anchored in the Lord" at her historic 1939 Lincoln Memorial concert in Washington, D.C.

A breakthrough came in 1932, when Price's Symphony in E minor won Chicago's Wanamaker Music Contest. Along
with the $500 award came a first performance. On June 15, 1933, conductor Frederick Stock debuted the symphony
with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a concert that included tenor Roland Hayes and music by Samuel Coleridge-
Taylor. The premiere secured Price her place in history as the first African American woman to have a symphony
performed by a major American orchestra.

Like her peers, William Grant Still and William Dawson, Price took inspiration from African American spirituals, although
its influence isn't conspicuous in all her works. The Second Violin Concerto has distinctly American touches, but overall
it's steeped in the European tradition, recalling the warmth and romantic facility of Anton�n Dvoř�k. But Price's style
isn't the only thread that connects her with the great Czech composer.

In 1892, Dvoř�k and his family set sail for the United States. By that time Price was five years old and had already
given her first public piano recital.

Dvoř�k couldn't have known how prescient he was when, the following year, he told the New York Herald: "The future
music of this country must be founded upon what are called the Negro melodies. This must be the real foundation of
any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States."

While Dvoř�k's pronouncement ruffled a few feathers in the music world, many others took the revered composer
seriously. If he could have only heard Louis Armstrong, James Brown, Sun Ra, Kendrick Lamar � and the alluring
music of Florence Price."
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No.581
Modern: Tonal

Composed especially for and dedicated to his friend, the wonderfully gifted oboist Diana Doherty, Ross Edwards (*1943)
has sought, in his Oboe Concerto "Bird Spirit Dreaming" to imbue the traditional concerto with elements of theatre, ritual and dance,
whilst preserving its concert hall function as an accompanied soloistic display. As we have come to expect from this composer, the texture
is dominated by an almost kaleidoscopic interplay of material gleaned from the natural environment and diverse cultural sources, whose
symbolic meaning remains ultimately and tantalisingly elusive. There are, however, audible references to other Edwards works, notably
Dawn Mantras and Symphony No.2 (Earth Spirit Songs), whose common theme is renewal. Although it is unlikely that the
composer was conscious of a program or narrative, a hidden purport might suggest a lone voice crying in the wilderness, led through
various stages of socialisation before re-emerging, transformed into a joyful affirmation of unity embracing diversity.

The Heart of Night (for shakuhachi & orchestra), commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony and Symphony Australia, explore
s the intuitive �night� mode of consciousness in which linear, or clock time is suspended and lis- teners are invited to turn their attention
inwards in present-centered contemplation. This is not the sort of listening normally associated with western concert halls where
symphonic dramas are played out. It�s actually the response you�d expect to the traditional honkyoku pieces which have the effect
of relaxing the body while keeping the mind calmly alert. This capacity to still the unquiet mind has been universally recognised
through the ages as one of music�s great blessings to humanity, but it�s been neglected in the western world in recent centuries.
One cause for optimism in these turbulent times is that we�re beginning to rediscover its importance.

The Clarinet Concerto is at the same time a work of great contrasts in which vivid presences and dreamlike distances are
juxtaposed with the intention of keeping listeners alert and engaged. It opens with phrases from the plainsong Ave Maria Gratia Plena
(Hail Mary, full of Grace), fragments of which reappear in many guises throughout the work as a symbol of the universal Earth Mother,
source and nurturer of all living things.The ecological association will become audible as plainsong turns dramatically into birdsong.
Three movements are performed without interruption. Two of them are explosive dances, headlong, exuberant, but with episodes of
nimbleness and translucent delicacy � a flash of coloured bird wing, a hovering dragonfly, a shriek of parrots. At the core of the work,
an intricate melodic line evolves slowly over drones that anchor it to the earth.



Music Composed by Ross Edwards
Played by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
With Diana Doherty (oboe) & Riley Lee (shakuhachi)
And David Thomas (clarinet)
Conducted by Arvo Volmer





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wimpel, incredibly fast response... many thanks for herberts cello concertos!

No.582
Modern: Tonal

From his earliest student days, Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) had harboured the ambition to compose large-scale symphonic
music in addition to the more compact tango-inspired pieces for which he remains best remembered. It was somewhat inevitable, #
therefore, that he would at some point compose a full-scale concerto for bandone�n and orchestra. The Bandoneon Concerto in
three movements was first performed in Buenos Aires in 1979. After the composer�s death, his agent and publisher decided to give
the work a more poetic name. "Aconcagua" is the name of the highest peak in the Andes and Piazzolla�s agent chose this name as
he felt that the concerto represented the creative summit of the composer�s achievements.

The second composer on the album is the French composer Richard Galliano (*1950), who collaborated with Astor Piazzolla in
the 1980s and today is one of the absolute greats of bandoneon and accordion jazz with over 50 albums of his own. His Opale Concerto
musically links South America with the Mediterranean region, combining tango with elements of the New Musette that Galliano
Piazzolla's New Tango opposes.



Music by Astor Piazzolla & Richard Galliano
Played by the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra
With Gwen Cresens (bandoneon & accordion)
Conducted by Diego Matheuz

"�stor Piazzolla�s Bandone�n Concerto has been well-served on record, most notably by the composer himself in a
swaggering 1987 account on Nonesuch. A similarly trenchant performance by French accordionist/composer Richard Galliano
made a decade later is nearly as fine (Dreyfus/BMG). Galliano included his own Concerto Opale for accordion, closely modelled
on Piazzolla�s work, and a selection of his charmingly sentimental miniatures on his recording. Now here�s Gwen Cresens,
revisiting Galliano�s programme by offering both the Piazzolla and Galliano concertos (played on bandone�n and accordion,
respectively, as Galliano did), and his own mix of shorter works.

Cresens plays the Piazzolla Concerto with tremendous rhythmic �lan. I admire how tautly he holds together the lyrical passages
while still sounding improvisatory, and also how sensitive he and the Venezuelan conductor Diego Matheuz are to the music�s
textural variety. Try the passage at 4'56" in the slow movement, where the bandone�n and orchestra�s pulsing staccato suggests
raindrops, heightening the melancholy atmosphere. The Galliano Concerto is episodic and sometimes gets stuck in a groove.
Galliano tears through the outer movements to electrifying effect in his recording. Cresens is less urgent but, again, makes
the most of the motoric rhythms, and lingers more affectionately in the nostalgically bittersweet Moderato malinconico.

The shorter pieces are a curious lot. Cresens prefaces the Granados and Alb�niz with a flamenco-inflected prelude of his own to
create an evocative suite. His enigmatically titled Nobody Likes an Angry Bunny is introduced by aching harmonies and continues
with a touching, Piazzolla-esque milonga but the denouement is saccharine. And while Cresens makes the most of Piazzolla�s
conversational Pedro y Pedro, his arrangement of Oblivion is too garishly coloured. Galliano plays Oblivion on his concerto disc,
too, but in a version much closer to the sepia-toned spirit of the original. Still, this is a gratifying programme overall, and the
recorded sound is sparklingly clear."
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No.583
Modern: Neo-Romantic

Following the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra's rousingly successful premiere of Lucas Richman's (*1964) Piano Concerto "In Truth"
in 2013, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, where Richman was resident conductor and a frequent guest conductor, was approached
about a recording of the piano concerto; a Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra (subtitled "The Clearing"), commissioned and premiered by
the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; and his Three Pieces for Cello and Orchestra. With world-class soloists, and Lucas Richman conducting,
the recordings are brilliant and authoritative. Lucas Richman is music director of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and was music director of the
Knoxville Symphony Orchestra for 12 years. His music has been performed by more than 200 orchestras across the United States. Pianist
Jeffrey Biegel, principal oboe of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida and Israeli-American cellist
Inbal Segev are the soloists. Richman's music is neo-romantic and highly approachable, especially the big-boned, virtuoso Piano Concerto.



Music Composed and Conducted by Lucas Richman
Played by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
With Jeffrey Biegel (piano) & Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida (oboe)
And Inbal Segev (cello)

"Russian romanticism and American triumphalism merge in the passionate, exciting first movement (�To One�s Self�) of
Lucas Richman�s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra: In Truth. Pianist Jeffrey Biegel and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
conducted by the composer give a bright, muscular account of this appealing music, whose aggressive tempos and friendly
tonalities suggest a concerto with a typical classical structure.

The second movement (�To One�s World�) counter expectations, beginning with a peaceful piano cadenza but exploding into
angular jazzy and ragtime colors, not at all the standard quiet center. A wind chorale and a gently flowing violin melody set
a contemplative mood for the final movement (�To One�s Spirit�). The orchestra picks up the violin theme, the piano supports
it with soft arpeggios, the music swells, the brass takes up the theme, and all is resolved in a huge major chord halfway
through that suggests an optimistic forecast for �one�s spirit.� The densely textured final section thunders to a movie-score
climax before ending with a hopeful sigh from the piano and a final Broadway-style orchestral flourish.

The whole work is built around the idea of �truth� and the conflict between �abiding by society�s universal �truths� and railing
against those who create new �truths� so as to avoid personal culpability.� Sound like anyone you�ve read about in the news
lately � on any day of the week? But with its dedication to �self,� �world,� and �spirit� the whole conception has a meditative
rather than an ideological flavor. While reading of the thoughts that inspired this accessible and often quite lovely concerto
may add a dimension to one�s listening, it�s by no means necessary. I�m tempted to say Richman writes for the masses, in
the best sense of the phrase.

For Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra: The Clearing, Richman took inspiration from Psalm 23 and skillfully programmed a
single-movement progression through life�s trials (�the valley of the shadow of death�) to a symbolic �clearing� of understanding
and acceptance. I couldn�t help thinking of the protagonist as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz rather than a biblical or Pilgrim�s
Progress figure � except those stories don�t end in a celebratory dance, certainly not one in 7/8 time. The Pittsburgh Symphony�s
principal oboe Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida gives a convincing account of the story, beginning with the ruminative and slowly
darkening introduction of subtle dissonances and romantic interludes.

Blaring brass note-clusters usher in rumbling passages in a section representing the �onslaught of earthly reality,� after which
the soloist/protagonist arrives at the titular �clearing� for a pastoral prayer of sorts. Here, as throughout, there�s an assured
melodic confidence in the solo lines. The whole album was recorded live in concert, and there�s also a thrilling spaciousness
to the sound.

The cinematic Three Pieces for Cello and Orchestra features cellist Inbal Segev (whose new album of Bach�s Cello Suites we
are highlighting here and here). The first of this trio of brief, related pieces, �Declaration,� boasts boiling interplay between
soloist and strings as one main theme recapitulates throughout.

The second piece, �Prayer,� suggests a melancholy Jewish air with a related, more inspirational major-key theme at its center.
Both it and the racing third piece, �Freylach� (Yiddish for �festive�) with its klezmer dance, debuted appropriately with the
Los Angeles Jewish Symphony in 1999, while the Israel-born Segev was the soloist for the 2013 premiere of the three
pieces as a set.

On this album of accessible and enjoyable modern classical music, the cello pieces are the least challenging to the ear �
perhaps the least mature as compositions � but as appealing and well played as the rest of the selections."
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No.584
Modern: Tonal/Contemporary

The vitality of these three works by the Irish composer Jerome de Bromhead (*1945) points to the sheer pleasure that their creator takes
in writing music. The swirling ebullience of the tone-poem A Lay for a Light Year suggests the scale and energy of the cosmos. The edgy,
elegiac lyricism of the Violin Concerto inhabits textures that are brittle and clear like Stravinsky�s. And the more chromatic Second Symphony
suggests a vast sense of space behind a glittering foreground of kaleidoscopic orchestral colours.



Music Composed by Jerome de Bromhead
Played by the RT� National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland
With Alan Smale (violin)
Conducted by Colman Pearce

"Jerome de Bromhead's name was completely unfamiliar to me and I suspect will be to the vast majority of music-lovers - even
those who are never happier than when sieving the ranks of the unusual. This Irish composer studied with A J Potter and S�oirse
Bodley. He is a guitarist and has spent many years working for the Irish broadcaster RT�.

It is no surprise that a disc of his orchestral music should be the handiwork of Toccata Classics, here working with RT� Lyric fm.
That they are first recordings is a given.

A Lay for a Light Year is overture in scale. Its cosmological subject matter is first announced in rolling and roiling brass gestures
that curve and re-curve. It's a modernistic piece yet not as wild-eyed and feral as some. It inhabits worlds that variously connote
later period Malcolm Arnold, Simpson's Symphonies 5-7 and Hovhaness's And god created great whales. The listener encounters
rushing abrasion and this is sometimes at extreme high volume. Towards the close the brass find an overtone of triumph. Had this
music been written at the time of Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos' series it would have been a natural choice as a backdrop.

The Violin Concerto is akin to the Berg in its approach to melody. The writing has a meditative lunar chill. The middle movement is
a magically poised Mesto in which the gentlest swish of dissonance is threaded through by the solo violin's involuted dreaminess.
In that sense it parallels the George Rochberg concerto. The third movement is a Vigoroso, belligerent and superbly recorded with
marimba prominent and the violin solo recessed at times. The style of the solo amid a jungle of minutely calculated orchestral detail
carries over from the Mesto. Credit to the composer for staying true to his star with a strikingly dithered patter of starkly quiet
staccato writing along the way.

The Violin Concerto's adept soloist is Alan Smale, a native of Torquay in Devon. Smale also gave the world premiere of the concerto
by Frank Corcoran (2012) as well as having recorded the concertos by Raymond Deane (Marco Polo 8.225106) and James Wilson
with whom de Bromhead studied.

De Bromhead wrote his First Symphony in 1985. This is his Second and was premiered by the same forces as here on 22 January
2008. There are three movements, each sporting the word "Quasi ..."

The building blocks of Quasi Corrento are brassy fanfares but the whole symphony inhabits a chrome-vanadium world smacking of
William Schuman's statuesque way with the declamatory. There are also faintly dissonant and elegiac American-sounding (Barber)
episodes that provide contrast.

The disarmingly open and useful liner-notes are by the composer and are devoid of fluff."
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No.585
Modern: Tonal

Three of the best-known Australian piano concertos are featured on this specially priced CD. Ross Edwards' well-known
Piano Concerto is brimming with exhuberant dance rhythms and luscious orchestral colours, while Peter Sculthorpe's
Piano Concerto is more introverted, but immediately appealing with its fascinating Japanese and Balinese influences.
Malcolm Williamson presents a work very characteristic of the concerto genre, resplendent in its virtuosity.
These are three works that deserve to be in any collection, unashamedly Australian, they are powerful demonstrations
of the skill and breadth of our composers and their music.



Music by Ross Edwards, Malcolm Williamson & Peter Sculthorpe
Played by the Tasmanian, Melbourne & Queensland Symphony Orchestras
With Dennis Hennig, Malcolm Williamson & Anthony Fogg (piano)
Conducted by Myer Fredman & Barry Tuckwell

"It could take a while to find any Australian piano concertos in current CD catalogues, so it is heartening that all
three on this disc are worth hearing for their intrinsic merits as well as their comparative rarity. (Percy Grainger,
probably Australia�s best-known composer, once declared the piano concerto to be "antithetical to Australia and all
things Australian"!) Few contemporary Australian composers are widely celebrated in their own country and, so far
as I know, only Williamson and Sculthorpe are names likely to be recognised in Europe. All the more exciting, then,
to hear these accomplished performances in contrasting styles and authoritative interpretations.

Ross Edwards� concise, three-movement concerto is full of original ideas expressed in a forthright diatonic idiom.
The most accessible work on this disc, it could almost be called a chamber concerto; yet this is "big country" music,
romantic but refreshingly unsentimental, like that of Copland. The concerto has considerable rhythmic subtlety, the
bold cross-rhythms of the first movement aided and abetted by a percussive piano, followed by a more lyrical,
reflective second movement full of night sounds and with Celtic overtones. A brilliant finale (do I discern a backward
glance at Spanish Renaissance music? I think so) rounds off a most satisfying work.

Since 1950 Williamson has spent most of his creative life in London, and his music usually shows a closer affinity to
Messian and Boulez than to native Australian influences. Few would assert that Australian music has yet found a truly
individual voice and so it is, perhaps, irritating for composers of this stature that they tend to be judged in terms of
European influences. Nevertheless, Williamson�s concerto can be identified with Stravinsky�s neo classical style --
restless, full of nervous energy and intricate dialogue between soloists and orchestra. The tension is high throughout,
but the musical argument clear and persuasive.

Sculthorpe�s concerto is the most substantial and challenging on this disc, a dark and tragic work that received an
award in 1983 for the Most Performed Australian Composition of that year. The concerto is divided into nine sections:
Grave, Animato, Grave, Calmo, Animato. Risoluto, Come Notturno (cadenza) and Estatio which creates an evolving
structure of complexity and power. In places it plays with minimalist techniques, but rises through them into powerful
large-scale periods that show Sculthorpe to be a commanding voice calling to be heard in today�s feverish quest for
superficial brilliance. For me Sculthorpe�s masterpiece is the best reason for buying this disc, though the other works
on it are by no means inconsiderable.

Orchestral playing is brisk and polished throughout, in a no-nonsense Aussie manner, and the demanding solo parts of
all three concertos are handled with a confident virtuosity that speaks of familiarity and affection. If the ABC can go
on finding such worthwhile examples of modern antipodean composers I will be first in the queue to buy them."
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No.586
Late Romantic

Ricardo Castro Herrera (1864-1907) was a Mexican concert pianist and composer, considered the last romantic of the time
of Porfirio D�az. Castro was born at Hacienda de santa B�rbara, Durango. His father, Vicente Castro, was a deputy congressman;
his mother was Mar�a de Jes�s Herrera. Castro began his music education with Pedro H. Ceniseros. In 1879 his family moved to
Mexico City where the boy entered the National Conservatory of Music and studied piano with Juan Salvatierra and Julio Ituarte,
He studied harmony and counterpoint with Melesio Morales. He finished all his studies in just 5 years, half of the usual 10.
He graduated in 1883. Castro began his musical career as a concert pianist and composer before finishing his studies.
In 1882, he won two prizes. At 19, Castro finished his First Symphony in C Minor; the symphony was premiered in 1988,
81 years after his death. In 1883 the Government of Mexico chose some of Castro's works to send to Venezuela for the Simon
Bolivar centenary and later in 1884 he made a concert tour through United States. 1896 was the year of the first premiere of the
first act of Castro's opera Atzimba. The second act is lost.

Castro received a scholarship from the Government of Mexico and went to Europe from 1903 to 1906 to give master classes in
conservatories in Paris, Brussels, Rome, Milan and Leipzig. He published in Paris many Mexican dances for piano in the Habanera
style. He studied with Teresa Carre�o while in Europe. When he returned to Mexico he was appointed music director of the National
Conservatory of Music by Justo Sierra and kept that work until he died of pneumonia in Mexico City in November 1907.
Castro's music for piano tends to be very colourful and sentimental with a kind of virtuosity in the style of Liszt.



Music Composed by Ricardo Castro
Played by the Orquesta Sinf�nica de San Luis Potosi
With Rodolfo Ritter (piano) and Vladimir Sagaydo (cello)
Conducted by Jos� Miramontes Zapata

"Sterling tell us that these three works are the first examples of a piano concerto, cello concerto and symphonic poem
in Latin America. All three are performed live with an unobtrusive audience, the presence of which is signalled by applause
at the end of each piece. The Piano Concerto is storming and full-blooded with a poetic and glittering slow movement.
The ideas are good: listen to the self-effacing charm of the sauntering orchestral pages of the first movement before the
piano's commanding entry. The finale is a Polonaise-style piece in an idiom in the same territory as the concertos and
concertante works by Gottschalk, Saint-Sa�ns and Arensky. The pianist Rodolfo Ritter acquits himself admirably as he
did in the two Ponce piano concertos on Sterling (CDS1102-2 - review). The orchestra's violins are respectable even if,
in the piano concerto, they tend towards a fierce tone at fff. In those instances they could do with more caramel and
less jalapeno.

The Cello Concerto is also in three movements. It has a sweet yet aristocratic Andante and a great deal of smoothly suave
writing not that far distant from the Dvoř�k cello concerto and the little cello and orchestra pieces by Frank Bridge; not
Oration. I had thought it might have echoed the concertos for the instrument by Lalo and Saint-Sa�ns but Castro comes up
with strong memorable material instead. It's a cut above - quite a discovery. The orchestra are here in better fettle than
in the Piano Concerto and the more than capable cellist, Vladimir Saygardo, seems to enjoy putting the work across.

I thought the name Oithona � after a poem by James Macpherson, itself based on a Celtic legend � rang a bell. It forms
the basis for an opera (unrecorded) by British composer Edgar Bainton (1880-1956) which was produced by Rutland
Boughton in Glastonbury in 1915. Castro's symphonic poem on the subject is a tempestuous affair which would be a
good match with Tchaikovsky's Hamlet. Here it's certainly given a raw, hustling account, mordant yet in touch with many
poetic moments. It's only a little longer than a concert overture. The orchestration is pleasingly artful.

The very full liner-notes by Jose Maria Alvarez are quite properly in Spanish first and then English. They are of the factual
and musical depth one finds in Toccata's CDs. Sterling's Bo Hyttner and Snr. Alvarez should take a bow.

That such enjoyable music was being written in these circumstances is a revelation. Discovery and delight are not always
companions but they are on this occasion."
Musicweb





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The Richman is especially enjoyable. Thank you.

No.587
Modern: Tonal

These three concertos share a traditional three-movement structure and owe their origins to composers who are acclaimed
and highly respected in their field, but this is as far as their similarities go. Frank Ticheli�s Clarinet Concerto pays homage
to Gershwin, Copland and Bernstein in its jazzy influences and song-like central movement, while Brad Warnaar�s
Horn Concerto is based entirely around the diatonic or �white� scale, reverberating with bell motifs and concluding
with jocular musical banter between soloist and orchestra. Behzad Ranjbaran is a native of Iran, and his Flute Concerto
is packed with exotic color, expressing contrasts of grief and joy, dream-like tenderness, and festive energy.



Music by Frank Ticheli, Brad Warnaar & Behzad Ranjbaran
Played by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra
With James Zimmermann (clarinet) & Leslie Norton (horn)
And �rik Gratton (flute)
Conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero

"Three wind concertos written in the present century by composers working in North America and who remain
within the world of tonality and melodic invention. With a reminder of Gershwin�s Rhapsody in Blue at the opening
of Frank Ticheli�s Clarinet Concerto, the three movements explore the instrument within its conventional sounds,
the silky beauty of the central �Song for Aaron��a tribute to Copland�moving into a jazzy mood for the finale inspired
by Bernstein in �Riffs for Lenny�. It is a lightweight score, but one of immediate attractions. The career of Brad Warnaar
started out as an orchestral horn player, but in 1980 he relocated to Los Angeles where he entered the film and television
world as a horn player and composer. The quite short three-movement Horn Concerto from 2015 shows those diverse
influences in its many and varied moods, the buoyant finale owing something to Richard Strauss and Benjamin Britten.
Born in Iran in 1955, Behzad Ranjbaran has spent most of his adult life in the United States as a music student and now
as a composer and educator. He refers to the influences of Persian music, though without that comment I would have taken
this as mainstream American music. It is in three movements, the first two often quite slow, the third a whirlwind of
activity and solo virtuosity. All three concertos feature the outstanding principals of the Nashville Symphony�James
Zimmermann (clarinet), Leslie Norton (horn) and Erik Gratton (flute)�and together with the orchestra, under its
principal conductor, Giancarlo Guerrero, I can most strongly commend these �World Premiere Recordings to you�.
The sound quality is outstanding."
David's Review Corner





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No.588
Modern: Tonal/Neo-Romantic

On his latest Navona Records release, American composer Michael G. Cunningham (*1937) explores ways in which the
orchestra can interact with itself on several levels. Counter Currents presents contrary phrases and themes simultaneously
stated while TransActions portrays dimensions of density, emphasizing orchestral blur and presenting gestures and passages
that prompt interplay between the sections of the orchestra. In Cunningham's Piano Concerto, the orchestra and piano,
evocatively played by Karel Ko��rek, are equally matched, using elements of stylized jazz and vocal-like passages to
structure the themes. Highlighting textural and tonal fragmentation within the orchestra, his Trumpet Concerto demonstrates
different conversational techniques among the voices, such as chatter, flippancy, and imitation.



Music Composed by Michael G. Cunningham
Played by the Kiev & Russian & Moravian Philharmonic Orchestras
With Karel Ko��rek (piano) & Yuri Kornalov (trumpet)
Conducted by Petr Vronsk�, Vit Micka, Robert Winstin & Ovidiu Marinescu

"The set opens with Counter Currents for orchestra which is a brief but bracing work that rides a line
between an almost cinematic drama and a more abstract neo-tonal mood. The composer�s notes where
he indicates that the work is from the �so-called Camelot era, with its waning period of radically modernistic
art� lost me. I�ve never heard that expression before but if his point is that this work carries vestiges of
the purposefully abstract and leans in the direction of a more accessible sound, I agree.

The Trumpet Concerto from 1967 is a very entertaining three-movement work that has a bit of resemblance
to Hindemith. I found the whole work to be very engaging and it seems to place considerable demands
on the trumpet soloist, played quite well here by Yuri Kornalov. I was particularly taken by the �night club�
vibe of the second movement, �Dulcet�.

The Piano Concerto is also a very attention-getting work with a very diverse set of moods characterizing each
of its three movements. For example, the aptly named �Jive� with its jaunty rhythms gives way to the
completely different �Requiem.� While I liked this whole work, I especially like the finale, �Toccata.�
Here, too, the soloist (uncredited on the packaging, unfortunately) does a fine job.

This collection concludes with three fairly short orchestral studies in a row and each possesses a somewhat
abstract but still interesting demeanor. I found Transactions to be the most rewarding. As Cunningham
points out, there are some wonderful and virtuosic moments that occur between the violin section, a solo
violin and the rest of the orchestra. Much of Cunningham�s music sounds depictive but, rather, what is at
stake are moods and aspects of music; not actual imagery of some sort. A good example is the brief
three movement suite, Islands, where the impressions here are whatever the listener can conjure up;
perhaps �islands� but no musical portrait of any actual and specific islands. This is a somewhat thorny
and evocative work that might suffer a bit from brevity; the first two movements, in particular, seem
to just get involving and then they�re done."
The Audiophile Audition





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No.589
Modern: Tonal

Peter Fribbins (*1969) is a British composer. He studied music at the Royal Academy of Music, Royal Holloway and
Nottingham University, and composition with Hans Werner Henze in London and Italy. His concert work is often linked with
a group of British composers called 'Music Haven', not a school as such, but a collection of composers (c.f. the French 'Les Six'
or the British 'Manchester School', from the early and late twentieth-century respectively), mostly London-based and with
broadly similar interests and aesthetic outlook, reflecting sympathies for British masters such as Britten and Tippett and the
music of the First Viennese School, especially Haydn and Beethoven, as well as the Scandinavian influences of Sibelius
and Nielsen.



Music Composed by Peter Fribbins
Played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
With Philippe Graffin (violin) & Christopher Hart (trumpet)
Conducted by Robertas Severnikas

"This refreshing recording takes its name from the subtitle of Peter Fribbins�s concerto for violin and orchestra, a showcase
for Philippe Graffin and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra that brims with vitality and clear, sinuous melody.
Fribbins (b1969) takes Purcell�s Sonata in G minor as a starting point to reimagine the dance forms of one age for
our own era. It�s an immediately engaging and satisfying addition to the violin repertoire. His In Xanadu for wind quintet
is altogether more agitated and angular and yet no less absorbing for that, but it�s in his new Soliloquies for trumpet
and strings, superbly played here by Christopher Hart, that Fribbins�s gift for long, searching and euphonious melody
is most on display."
The Guardian





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No.590
Late Romantic

Manuel Ponce (1882-1948) was a Mexican pianist and composer whose style underwent a profound change in midlife;
his works are clearly divisible into two types. The earlier style was derived primarily from the brilliant salon style of Moszkowski
and Chaminade, and is represented by numerous light works for the piano and a huge quantity of sentimental songs.
After studying with Dukas, Ponce developed a style that combined French Impressionism and neo-Classical contrapuntal
techniques. Most of his guitar music and the majority of his more serious and larger works were written in this style.
In addition to the songs and early piano works, Ponce composed a piano concerto, several large symphonic works for
orchestra, the Concierto del sur for guitar and orchestra, which was premiered by Segovia, some chamber music, two
piano sonatas, and a large quantity of guitar music.

The present release is fashioned around two piano concertos, one of these being incomplete (just two movements)
and not previously recorded, at least not commercially and probably not at all. Add to this a splendid orchestral display
piece and two unobstructed and instantly engaging folk-influenced piano works.



Music Composed by Manuel Ponce
Played by the Orquesta Sinf�nica de San Luis Potosi
With Rodolfo Ritter (piano)
Conducted by Zaeth Ritter

"Ferial - dedicated "To Mexico", runs to nearly fifteen minutes. It can also be found in that Musica Mexicana set.
It is a lividly lit, although still subtle, counterpart to Ravel's Rapsodie espagnole. The music is easy to take on board
being dreamy at times and lightly exotic but never cheesy. The composer's aspirations, lying between entertainment
and symphonic momentum, are apparent in the subtitle, Divertimento sinf�nico. It is at times a folksy piece with
startling stylistic links with the Moeran Sinfonietta and at one point (12:50) the RVW March of the Kitchen Utensils.
Ponce embraced the romantic early in his career which is obvious from the First Piano Concerto. This is very traditional
music, with its lush orchestral and pianistic writing. He was to become more influenced by folk music as the years
passed. A dreamlike second movement (Andantino amoroso - Allegretto - Allegro come prima) follows a stormy
first (Allegro appassionato). It's all grand and very colourful. At times it made me think of the lushly dripping pages
of the Marx Piano Concerto. It ends in an Allegro that is grand and showy. Of the Piano Concerto No.2 we have only
an Allegro non troppo and a Largo. This may be more modern but in no sense is it avant-garde. The textures are
cleaner but the same temperament is at work as in the First Concerto. What's the betting someone will do a 'completion'
or 'realisation' at some point? Finally we hear some colourfully entertaining, gawky, Poulenc-like piano pieces: Preludios
encadenados and Cuatro danzas mexicanas. Performances throughout are enthusiastic and the recording is bright and
forward. These recordings were made live in concert with applause.

The disc comes with a princely 18 pages of notes. The whole thing is something of a Ritter affair with Rodolfo Ritter
the pianist and executive producer, Zaeth Ritter the conductor and the cover picture being by
Julian Ritter (1909-2000)."
Musicweb





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No.591
Modern: Tonal

In Norway, the most famous example of the musical father/son relationship is the one between David Monrad Johansen (1888-1974)
and his son Johan Kvandal (1919-1999). Although Johan Kvandal always referred to his father as "The Boss", he chose not to
call himself by the family name. It could have given him a great support in his profession, but he wanted to make his own way and be
evaluated for his own artistic expressions, not in comparison to his father's.

David Monrad Johansen had a key position in the Norwegian musical life in the time between the World Wars. In this period the whole
musical society was influenced by nationalistic ideas, and Monrad Johansen was inspired by the old Norwegian sagas as well as the writers
of his time. In his music he succeeded in blending the Norwegian roots with the musical expression of his time. Johansen's orchestral
piece Pan, a tribute to the Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun, is probably his most popular work and the one performed the most
internationally. The piece combines impressionism and polyphony and is, according to the composer, an expression of the powers of
nature that exist in Hamsun's literature. David Monrad Johansen's striking but highly melodic Piano Concerto was given its
first performance in the mid 1950s is a three movement piece with a classical structure.

Joahan Kvandal shared his fathers relationship with the Norwegian arts and music, but his own style of writing was more influenced
by European music than Monrad Johansens. Kvandal's Piano Concerto was the last thing he wrote, and it was finished in 1998.
The Norwegian pianist H�vard Gimse was the prime force behind this piece, and played all the movements as soon as they
were ready from the composer's pen. The second movement is unique in the literature of concertos; opening as it does with
a 19 bar phrase for solo tuba.



Music by David Monrad Johansen & Johan Kvindal
Played by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
With H�vard Gimse (piano)
Conducted by Christian Eggen & Ole Kristian Ruud

"Recording both concerts is a pianistic accomplishment by H�vard Gimse. However, it is raised above any doubt
that with these, Norwegian piano literature has been enriched by two works which deserve a prominent position.
It is eventful and thoroughly good music. Both composers know how to exploit the solist qualities of the piano,
and it swings invigoratingly between the emotional extremes, like they in both concerts are embodied in the
tension between the outer movement and the slow middle movements. With this recorrding, Gimse documents
that he is a top level performer, and also a outstanding executioner of Norwegian music.

The Oslo Philharmonic performs energetic under the direction of Christian Eggen, both during Monrad Johansen�s
piano concert and the orchestral work Pan, as well as under Kristian Ruud�s direction during Kvandal�s piano
concerto. Both conductors arise the co-performers� response and thereby procuring impressing results."
Aftenposten





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No.592
Modern: Tonal

Following their successful first GENUIN release Loco, the Wave Quartet is turning on the heat – when we hear them, we’d be forgiven
for mistaking the marimba and percussion quartet for a full-fledged orchestra. Joining together with Bogdan B�canu, the world’s youngest
marimba professor and winner of many international competitions, the world-class musicians have committed two world premiere recordings
to CD – concertos by Emmanuel S�journ� where they give full rein to their brilliant and varied malletwork. Romantic, with plenty of
humor, groove, and feeling – an inspiration for percussion fans and music lovers everywhere!



Music by Akira Ifukube & Emmanuel S�journ�
Played by the Romanian National Symphony Orchestra
With Bogdan B�canu (marimba) & The Wave Quartet
Conducted by Cristian Mandeal





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No.593
Late Romantic

Selim Palmgren (1878-1951) was an important Finnish composer excelling in piano composition, many of whose works
contain impressionistic elements such as whole-tone scales and parallel-chord constructions. The single- movement
Piano Concerto No.4 ("April") is memorable for its sprays of notes and cheery orientalisms. There is an element of
Rachmaninov-style rhetoric but Palmgren soon swirls the listener back into allusive pictorialism. Around its central core things
become a degree or two more cool but this pastoral sorrow charms rather than leaving scar tissue or the memory of a shiver.
Soon the chiming piano imperceptibly claws us back towards the sunshine which starts the final lively dancing episode.
It's all over in just short of twenty minutes.

The Piano Concerto No.5 is in three movements. The opening Allegro Moderato mixes catchy glittering piano work
with sighing romance usually allocated to the strings. The Andante tranquillo shares the slightly chilly embrace of the central
part of the Fourth Concerto. The movement's slow amble avoids the music becoming inert but Palmgren is telling us
that there is time to wonder. The Allegro vivace finale starts with a quiet and slowly accelerating folk-dance at mezzo forte.
Soon the music speeds up yet further with athletic writing for the pianist and stomping emphasis from the orchestra.
The innocent countryside atmosphere is leavened by some pages that suggest troll-threats and others that take a
quick grasp on heroism.



Music Composed by Selim Palmgren
Played by the Pori Sinfonietta
With Janne Mertanen (piano)
Conducted by Jan S�derblom

"Selim Palmgren (1878-1951) appeared in these pages far more frequently in days of yore than he does now.
His star has faded, unfairly I*think, so this release is thrice welcome*� repertoire (there is currently little of any
of his music available on any label), and performance and recording quality, both of which are first class.

Last year David Fanning gave a cautious welcome to the first three (of Palmgren�s five) piano concertos with the
same orchestra and conductor (Henri Sigfridsson was the soloist), reminding us that the best of the quintet is No*2,
The River, and of Palmgren�s episodic approach to the form. This is true of both concertos on this second volume,
where one is aware of a profusion of more or less interesting and arresting ideas which float pass the window never
to be seen again. While the music is in a genial, late-Romantic idiom (though No*4 veers heavily towards Impressionism),
it is hard to get a handle on where it is going. The single-movement (18'20") Fourth Concerto was written mainly in
Rochester in 1924 when Palmgren was (perhaps surprisingly) professor of composition at the Eastman School of
Music, and completed in his native Finland three years later. The Fifth Concerto (1940‑41) was composed, he said,
�to the accompaniment of bombs exploding�. It is*the only one of the five that has the customary three distinct
movements.

Recorded in the early 1990s, all five concertos appeared on a twofer (Ultima, 1/00*� nla) with the Turku Philharmonic
Orchestra under Jacques Mercier and four pianists sharing duties, Juhani Lagerspetz in No*4 and Raija Kerppo in No*5.
Both are marginally brisker than the newcomer but really there is very little to choose between them, though the
Ultima discs were better filled with Palmgren�s Piano Sonata No*1 and various other rarities. However, Alba offers
as an extra the orchestral suite A*Pastorale in Three Scenes (1918), the second of these being �Elegie�. This alone
is quite beautiful enough to merit a warm recommendation."
Gramophone





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